See-through computer display systems

ABSTRACT

Aspects of the present invention relate to providing see-through computer display optics.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority to and is a continuationof U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 14/561,146, entitledSEE-THROUGH COMPUTER DISPLAYS SYSTEM, filed Dec. 4, 2014.

U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 14/561,146, entitledSEE-THROUGH COMPUTER DISPLAY SYSTEMS, filed Dec. 4, 2014 claims thebenefit of priority to and is a continuation-in-part of the followingU.S. patent applications, each of which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety:

U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 14/160,377, entitled OPTICALCONFIGURATIONS FOR HEAD WORN COMPUTING, filed Jan. 21, 2014.

U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 14/172,901, entitled OPTICALCONFIGURATIONS FOR HEAD WORN COMPUTING, filed Feb. 4, 2014 which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No.14/160,377, entitled OPTICAL CONFIGURATIONS FOR HEAD WORN COMPUTING,filed Jan. 21, 2014; and U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No.14/163,646, entitled PERIPHERAL LIGHTING FOR HEAD WORN COMPUTING, filedJan. 24, 2014.

U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 14/181,459, entitledSUPPRESSION OF STRAY LIGHT IN HEAD WORN COMPUTING, filed Feb. 14, 2014which is a continuation-in-part of the following four U.S. patentapplications, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety:

U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 14/172,901, entitled OPTICALCONFIGURATIONS FOR HEAD WORN COMPUTING, filed Feb. 4, 2014, which is acontinuation-in-part of (i) U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No.14/160,377, entitled OPTICAL CONFIGURATIONS FOR HEAD WORN COMPUTING,filed Jan. 21, 2014 and (ii) U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No.14/163,646, entitled PERIPHERAL LIGHTING FOR HEAD WORN COMPUTING, filedJan. 24, 2014; and U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 14/178,047,entitled MICRO DOPPLER PRESENTATIONS IN HEAD WORN COMPUTING, filed Feb.11, 2014.

U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 14/296,699, entitled OPTICALCONFIGURATIONS FOR HEAD WORN SEE-THROUGH DISPLAYS, filed Jun. 5, 2014.

U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 14/325,991, entitled OPTICALCONFIGURATIONS FOR HEAD WORN SEE-THROUGH DISPLAYS, filed Jul. 8, 2014.

U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 14/489,706, entitledSEE-THROUGH COMPUTER DISPLAY SYSTEMS, filed Sep. 18, 2014.

U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 14/498,765, entitledSEE-THROUGH COMPUTER DISPLAY SYSTEMS, filed Sep. 26, 2014.

U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 14/504,723, entitledSEE-THROUGH COMPUTER DISPLAY SYSTEMS, filed Oct. 2, 2014 which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No.14/498,765, entitled SEE-THROUGH COMPUTER DISPLAY SYSTEMS, filed Sep.26, 2014.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to see-through computer display systems.

2. Description of Related Art

Head mounted displays (HMD) and particularly HMDs that provide asee-through view of the environment are sensitive to the effects ofstray light. Where, stray light includes light that is not intended tobe included in the displayed image, including light that is scattered orinadvertently reflected from surfaces within the optics of the HMD. Thisstray light reduces the sharpness and contrast of the displayed image inthe HMD. In addition, the stray light causes the black areas of thedisplayed image to be gray and this effect adversely affects thesee-through view of the environment because the see-through view isproduced by the combination of the light from the environment and thelight from the displayed image, which is in the best case the blackportions of displayed image. As a result, it is important to reducestray light within the optics so that very dark black areas and highcontrast can be provided in the images displayed by the HMDs.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the present invention relate to methods and systems for thesee-through computer display systems.

These and other systems, methods, objects, features, and advantages ofthe present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art fromthe following detailed description of the preferred embodiment and thedrawings. All documents mentioned herein are hereby incorporated intheir entirety by reference.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments are described with reference to the following Figures. Thesame numbers may be used throughout to reference like features andcomponents that are shown in the Figures:

FIG. 1 illustrates a head worn computing system in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a head worn computing system with optical system inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 3 a illustrates a large prior art optical arrangement.

FIG. 3 b illustrates an upper optical module in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates an upper optical module in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 4 a illustrates an upper optical module in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 4 b illustrates an upper optical module in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates an upper optical module in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 5 a illustrates an upper optical module in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 5 b illustrates an upper optical module and dark light trapaccording to the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 5 c illustrates an upper optical module and dark light trapaccording to the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 5 d illustrates an upper optical module and dark light trapaccording to the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 5 e illustrates an upper optical module and dark light trapaccording to the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates upper and lower optical modules in accordance withthe principles of the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates angles of combiner elements in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates upper and lower optical modules in accordance withthe principles of the present invention.

FIG. 8 a illustrates upper and lower optical modules in accordance withthe principles of the present invention.

FIG. 8 b illustrates upper and lower optical modules in accordance withthe principles of the present invention.

FIG. 8 c illustrates upper and lower optical modules in accordance withthe principles of the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates an eye imaging system in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 10 illustrates a light source in accordance with the principles ofthe present invention.

FIG. 10 a illustrates a back lighting system in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 10 b illustrates a back lighting system in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIGS. 11 a to 11 d illustrate light source and filters in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIGS. 12 a to 12 c illustrate light source and quantum dot systems inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIGS. 13 a to 13 c illustrate peripheral lighting systems in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIGS. 14 a to 14 c illustrate a light suppression systems in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 15 illustrates an external user interface in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIGS. 16 a to 16 c illustrate distance control systems in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIGS. 17 a to 17 c illustrate force interpretation systems in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIGS. 18 a to 18 c illustrate user interface mode selection systems inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 19 illustrates interaction systems in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 20 illustrates external user interfaces in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 21 illustrates mD trace representations presented in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 22 illustrates mD trace representations presented in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 23 illustrates an mD scanned environment in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 23 a illustrates mD trace representations presented in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 24 illustrates a stray light suppression technology in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 25 illustrates a stray light suppression technology in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 26 illustrates a stray light suppression technology in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 27 illustrates a stray light suppression technology in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIGS. 28 a to 28 c illustrate DLP mirror angles.

FIGS. 29 to 33 illustrate eye imaging systems according to theprinciples of the present invention.

FIGS. 34 and 34 a illustrate structured eye lighting systems accordingto the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 35 illustrates eye glint in the prediction of eye directionanalysis in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 36 a illustrates eye characteristics that may be used in personalidentification through analysis of a system according to the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 36 b illustrates a digital content presentation reflection off ofthe wearer's eye that may be analyzed in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 37 illustrates eye imaging along various virtual target lines andvarious focal planes in accordance with the principles of the presentinvention.

FIG. 38 illustrates content control with respect to eye movement basedon eye imaging in accordance with the principles of the presentinvention.

FIG. 39 illustrates eye imaging and eye convergence in accordance withthe principles of the present invention.

FIG. 40 illustrates content position dependent on sensor feedback inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 41 illustrates content position dependent on sensor feedback inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 42 illustrates content position dependent on sensor feedback inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 43 illustrates content position dependent on sensor feedback inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 44 illustrates content position dependent on sensor feedback inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 45 illustrates various headings over time in an example.

FIG. 46 illustrates content position dependent on sensor feedback inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 47 illustrates content position dependent on sensor feedback inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 48 illustrates content position dependent on sensor feedback inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 49 illustrates content position dependent on sensor feedback inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 50 illustrates light impinging an eye in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 51 illustrates a view of an eye in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIGS. 52 a and 52 b illustrate views of an eye with a structured lightpattern in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 53 illustrates an optics module in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 54 illustrates an optics module in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 55 shows a series of example spectrum for a variety of controlledsubstances as measured using a form of infrared spectroscopy.

FIG. 56 shows an infrared absorbance spectrum for glucose.

FIG. 57 illustrates a scene where a person is walking with a HWC mountedon his head.

FIG. 58 illustrates a system for receiving, developing and usingmovement heading, sight heading, eye heading and/or persistenceinformation from HWC(s).

FIG. 59 illustrates a presentation technology in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 60 illustrates a presentation technology in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 61 illustrates a presentation technology in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 62 illustrates a presentation technology in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 63 illustrates a presentation technology in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 64 illustrates a presentation technology in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 65 illustrates a presentation technology in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 66 illustrates a presentation technology in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 66 illustrates a location based presentation technology inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 67 illustrates an optical configuration in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 68 illustrates an optical configuration in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 69 illustrates an optical configuration in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 70 illustrates an optical configuration in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 71 illustrates an optical configuration in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 72 illustrates an optical element in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 73 illustrates an optical element in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 74 illustrates an optical element in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 75 illustrates an optical element in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 76 illustrates an optical element in a see-through computer displayin accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 77 illustrates an optical element in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 78 illustrates an optical element in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 79 a illustrates a schematic of an upper optic in accordance withthe principles of the present invention.

FIG. 79 illustrates a schematic of an upper optic in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 80 illustrates a stray light control technology in accordance withthe principles of the present invention.

FIGS. 81 a and 81 b illustrate a display with a gap and maskedtechnologies in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 82 illustrates an upper module with a trim polarizer in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 83 illustrates an optical system with a laminated multiplepolarizer film in accordance with the principles of the presentinvention.

FIGS. 84 a and 84 b illustrate partially reflective layers in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 84 c illustrates a laminated multiple polarizer with a complexcurve in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 84 d illustrates a laminated multiple polarizer with a curve inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 85 illustrates an optical system adapted for a head-mounted displayin accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 86 illustrates an optical system adapted for a head-mounted displayin accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 87 illustrates an optical system adapted for a head-mounted displayin accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 88 illustrates an optical system adapted for a head-mounted displayin accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 89 illustrates an optical system adapted for a head-mounted displayin accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 90 illustrates an optical system adapted for a head-mounted displayin accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 91 illustrates an optical system in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 92 illustrates an optical system in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 93 illustrates an optical system in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 94 illustrates an optical system in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 95 illustrates an optical system in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 96 illustrates an optical system in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 97 illustrates an optical system in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 98 illustrates an optical system in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 99 illustrates an optical system in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 100 illustrates an optical system in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 101 illustrates an optical system in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 102 illustrates an optical system in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIGS. 103, 103 a and 103 b illustrate optical systems in accordance withthe principles of the present invention.

FIG. 104 illustrates an optical system in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 105 illustrates a blocking optic in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIGS. 106 a, 106 b, and 106 c illustrate a blocking optic system inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

While the invention has been described in connection with certainpreferred embodiments, other embodiments would be understood by one ofordinary skill in the art and are encompassed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

Aspects of the present invention relate to head-worn computing (“HWC”)systems. HWC involves, in some instances, a system that mimics theappearance of head-worn glasses or sunglasses. The glasses may be afully developed computing platform, such as including computer displayspresented in each of the lenses of the glasses to the eyes of the user.In embodiments, the lenses and displays may be configured to allow aperson wearing the glasses to see the environment through the lenseswhile also seeing, simultaneously, digital imagery, which forms anoverlaid image that is perceived by the person as a digitally augmentedimage of the environment, or augmented reality (“AR”).

HWC involves more than just placing a computing system on a person'shead. The system may need to be designed as a lightweight, compact andfully functional computer display, such as wherein the computer displayincludes a high resolution digital display that provides a high level ofemersion comprised of the displayed digital content and the see-throughview of the environmental surroundings. User interfaces and controlsystems suited to the HWC device may be required that are unlike thoseused for a more conventional computer such as a laptop. For the HWC andassociated systems to be most effective, the glasses may be equippedwith sensors to determine environmental conditions, geographic location,relative positioning to other points of interest, objects identified byimaging and movement by the user or other users in a connected group,and the like. The HWC may then change the mode of operation to match theconditions, location, positioning, movements, and the like, in a methodgenerally referred to as a contextually aware HWC. The glasses also mayneed to be connected, wirelessly or otherwise, to other systems eitherlocally or through a network. Controlling the glasses may be achievedthrough the use of an external device, automatically throughcontextually gathered information, through user gestures captured by theglasses sensors, and the like. Each technique may be further refineddepending on the software application being used in the glasses. Theglasses may further be used to control or coordinate with externaldevices that are associated with the glasses.

Referring to FIG. 1, an overview of the HWC system 100 is presented. Asshown, the HWC system 100 comprises a HWC 102, which in this instance isconfigured as glasses to be worn on the head with sensors such that theHWC 102 is aware of the objects and conditions in the environment 114.In this instance, the HWC 102 also receives and interprets controlinputs such as gestures and movements 116. The HWC 102 may communicatewith external user interfaces 104. The external user interfaces 104 mayprovide a physical user interface to take control instructions from auser of the HWC 102 and the external user interfaces 104 and the HWC 102may communicate bi-directionally to affect the user's command andprovide feedback to the external device 108. The HWC 102 may alsocommunicate bi-directionally with externally controlled or coordinatedlocal devices 108. For example, an external user interface 104 may beused in connection with the HWC 102 to control an externally controlledor coordinated local device 108. The externally controlled orcoordinated local device 108 may provide feedback to the HWC 102 and acustomized GUI may be presented in the HWC 102 based on the type ofdevice or specifically identified device 108. The HWC 102 may alsointeract with remote devices and information sources 112 through anetwork connection 110. Again, the external user interface 104 may beused in connection with the HWC 102 to control or otherwise interactwith any of the remote devices 108 and information sources 112 in asimilar way as when the external user interfaces 104 are used to controlor otherwise interact with the externally controlled or coordinatedlocal devices 108. Similarly, HWC 102 may interpret gestures 116 (e.gcaptured from forward, downward, upward, rearward facing sensors such ascamera(s), range finders, IR sensors, etc.) or environmental conditionssensed in the environment 114 to control either local or remote devices108 or 112.

We will now describe each of the main elements depicted on FIG. 1 inmore detail; however, these descriptions are intended to provide generalguidance and should not be construed as limiting. Additional descriptionof each element may also be further described herein.

The HWC 102 is a computing platform intended to be worn on a person'shead. The HWC 102 may take many different forms to fit many differentfunctional requirements. In some situations, the HWC 102 will bedesigned in the form of conventional glasses. The glasses may or may nothave active computer graphics displays. In situations where the HWC 102has integrated computer displays the displays may be configured assee-through displays such that the digital imagery can be overlaid withrespect to the user's view of the environment 114. There are a number ofsee-through optical designs that may be used, including ones that have areflective display (e.g. LCoS, DLP), emissive displays (e.g. OLED, LED),hologram, TIR waveguides, and the like. In embodiments, lighting systemsused in connection with the display optics may be solid state lightingsystems, such as LED, OLED, quantum dot, quantum dot LED, etc. Inaddition, the optical configuration may be monocular or binocular. Itmay also include vision corrective optical components. In embodiments,the optics may be packaged as contact lenses. In other embodiments, theHWC 102 may be in the form of a helmet with a see-through shield,sunglasses, safety glasses, goggles, a mask, fire helmet withsee-through shield, police helmet with see through shield, militaryhelmet with see-through shield, utility form customized to a certainwork task (e.g. inventory control, logistics, repair, maintenance,etc.), and the like.

The HWC 102 may also have a number of integrated computing facilities,such as an integrated processor, integrated power management,communication structures (e.g. cell net, WiFi, Bluetooth, local areaconnections, mesh connections, remote connections (e.g. client server,etc.)), and the like. The HWC 102 may also have a number of positionalawareness sensors, such as GPS, electronic compass, altimeter, tiltsensor, IMU, and the like. It may also have other sensors such as acamera, rangefinder, hyper-spectral camera, Geiger counter, microphone,spectral illumination detector, temperature sensor, chemical sensor,biologic sensor, moisture sensor, ultrasonic sensor, and the like.

The HWC 102 may also have integrated control technologies. Theintegrated control technologies may be contextual based control, passivecontrol, active control, user control, and the like. For example, theHWC 102 may have an integrated sensor (e.g. camera) that captures userhand or body gestures 116 such that the integrated processing system caninterpret the gestures and generate control commands for the HWC 102. Inanother example, the HWC 102 may have sensors that detect movement (e.g.a nod, head shake, and the like) including accelerometers, gyros andother inertial measurements, where the integrated processor mayinterpret the movement and generate a control command in response. TheHWC 102 may also automatically control itself based on measured orperceived environmental conditions. For example, if it is bright in theenvironment the HWC 102 may increase the brightness or contrast of thedisplayed image. In embodiments, the integrated control technologies maybe mounted on the HWC 102 such that a user can interact with itdirectly. For example, the HWC 102 may have a button(s), touchcapacitive interface, and the like.

As described herein, the HWC 102 may be in communication with externaluser interfaces 104. The external user interfaces may come in manydifferent forms. For example, a cell phone screen may be adapted to takeuser input for control of an aspect of the HWC 102. The external userinterface may be a dedicated UI, such as a keyboard, touch surface,button(s), joy stick, and the like. In embodiments, the externalcontroller may be integrated into another device such as a ring, watch,bike, car, and the like. In each case, the external user interface 104may include sensors (e.g. IMU, accelerometers, compass, altimeter, andthe like) to provide additional input for controlling the HWD 104.

As described herein, the HWC 102 may control or coordinate with otherlocal devices 108. The external devices 108 may be an audio device,visual device, vehicle, cell phone, computer, and the like. Forinstance, the local external device 108 may be another HWC 102, whereinformation may then be exchanged between the separate HWCs 108.

Similar to the way the HWC 102 may control or coordinate with localdevices 106, the HWC 102 may control or coordinate with remote devices112, such as the HWC 102 communicating with the remote devices 112through a network 110. Again, the form of the remote device 112 may havemany forms. Included in these forms is another HWC 102. For example,each HWC 102 may communicate its GPS position such that all the HWCs 102know where all of HWC 102 are located.

FIG. 2 illustrates a HWC 102 with an optical system that includes anupper optical module 202 and a lower optical module 204. While the upperand lower optical modules 202 and 204 will generally be described asseparate modules, it should be understood that this is illustrative onlyand the present invention includes other physical configurations, suchas that when the two modules are combined into a single module or wherethe elements making up the two modules are configured into more than twomodules. In embodiments, the upper module 202 includes a computercontrolled display (e.g. LCoS, DLP, OLED, etc.) and image light deliveryoptics. In embodiments, the lower module includes eye delivery opticsthat are configured to receive the upper module's image light anddeliver the image light to the eye of a wearer of the HWC. In FIG. 2, itshould be noted that while the upper and lower optical modules 202 and204 are illustrated in one side of the HWC such that image light can bedelivered to one eye of the wearer, that it is envisioned by the presentinvention that embodiments will contain two image light deliverysystems, one for each eye.

FIG. 3 b illustrates an upper optical module 202 in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention. In this embodiment, the upperoptical module 202 includes a DLP (also known as DMD or digitalmicromirror device) computer operated display 304 which includes pixelscomprised of rotatable mirrors (such as, for example, the DLP3000available from Texas Instruments), polarized light source 302, ¼waveretarder film 308, reflective polarizer 310 and a field lens 312. Thepolarized light source 302 provides substantially uniform polarizedlight that is generally directed towards the reflective polarizer 310.The reflective polarizer reflects light of one polarization state (e.g.S polarized light) and transmits light of the other polarization state(e.g. P polarized light). The polarized light source 302 and thereflective polarizer 310 are oriented so that the polarized light fromthe polarized light source 302 is reflected generally towards the DLP304. The light then passes through the ¼ wave film 308 once beforeilluminating the pixels of the DLP 304 and then again after beingreflected by the pixels of the DLP 304. In passing through the ¼ wavefilm 308 twice, the light is converted from one polarization state tothe other polarization state (e.g. the light is converted from S to Ppolarized light). The light then passes through the reflective polarizer310. In the event that the DLP pixel(s) are in the “on” state (i.e. themirrors are positioned to reflect light towards the field lens 312, the“on” pixels reflect the light generally along the optical axis and intothe field lens 312. This light that is reflected by “on” pixels andwhich is directed generally along the optical axis of the field lens 312will be referred to as image light 316. The image light 316 then passesthrough the field lens to be used by a lower optical module 204.

The light that is provided by the polarized light source 302, which issubsequently reflected by the reflective polarizer 310 before itreflects from the DLP 304, will generally be referred to as illuminationlight. The light that is reflected by the “off” pixels of the DLP 304 isreflected at a different angle than the light reflected by the ‘on”pixels, so that the light from the “off” pixels is generally directedaway from the optical axis of the field lens 312 and toward the side ofthe upper optical module 202 as shown in FIG. 3. The light that isreflected by the “off” pixels of the DLP 304 will be referred to as darkstate light 314.

The DLP 304 operates as a computer controlled display and is generallythought of as a MEMs device. The DLP pixels are comprised of smallmirrors that can be directed. The mirrors generally flip from one angleto another angle. The two angles are generally referred to as states.When light is used to illuminate the DLP the mirrors will reflect thelight in a direction depending on the state. In embodiments herein, wegenerally refer to the two states as “on” and “off,” which is intendedto depict the condition of a display pixel. “On” pixels will be seen bya viewer of the display as emitting light because the light is directedalong the optical axis and into the field lens and the associatedremainder of the display system. “Off” pixels will be seen by a viewerof the display as not emitting light because the light from these pixelsis directed to the side of the optical housing and into a light trap orlight dump where the light is absorbed. The pattern of “on” and “off”pixels produces image light that is perceived by a viewer of the displayas a computer generated image. Full color images can be presented to auser by sequentially providing illumination light with complimentarycolors such as red, green and blue. Where the sequence is presented in arecurring cycle that is faster than the user can perceive as separateimages and as a result the user perceives a full color image comprisedof the sum of the sequential images. Bright pixels in the image areprovided by pixels that remain in the “on” state for the entire time ofthe cycle, while dimmer pixels in the image are provided by pixels thatswitch between the “on” state and “off” state within the time of thecycle, or frame time when in a video sequence of images.

FIG. 3 a shows an illustration of a system for a DLP 304 in which theunpolarized light source 350 is pointed directly at the DLP 304. In thiscase, the angle required for the illumination light is such that thefield lens 352 must be positioned substantially distant from the DLP 304to avoid the illumination light from being clipped by the field lens352. The large distance between the field lens 352 and the DLP 304 alongwith the straight path of the dark state light 354, means that the lighttrap for the dark state light 354 is also located at a substantialdistance from the DLP. For these reasons, this configuration is largerin size compared to the upper optics module 202 of the preferredembodiments.

The configuration illustrated in FIG. 3 b can be lightweight and compactsuch that it fits into a small portion of a HWC. For example, the uppermodules 202 illustrated herein can be physically adapted to mount in anupper frame of a HWC such that the image light can be directed into alower optical module 204 for presentation of digital content to awearer's eye. The package of components that combine to generate theimage light (i.e. the polarized light source 302, DLP 304, reflectivepolarizer 310 and ¼ wave film 308) is very light and is compact. Theheight of the system, excluding the field lens, may be less than 8 mm.The width (i.e. from front to back) may be less than 8 mm. The weightmay be less than 2 grams. The compactness of this upper optical module202 allows for a compact mechanical design of the HWC and the lightweight nature of these embodiments help make the HWC lightweight toprovide for a HWC that is comfortable for a wearer of the HWC.

The configuration illustrated in FIG. 3 b can produce sharp contrast,high brightness and deep blacks, especially when compared to LCD or LCoSdisplays used in HWC. The “on” and “off” states of the DLP provide for astrong differentiator in the light reflection path representing an “on”pixel and an “off” pixel. As will be discussed in more detail below, thedark state light from the “off” pixel reflections can be managed toreduce stray light in the display system to produce images with highcontrast.

FIG. 4 illustrates another embodiment of an upper optical module 202 inaccordance with the principles of the present invention. This embodimentincludes a light source 404, but in this case, the light source canprovide unpolarized illumination light. The illumination light from thelight source 404 is directed into a TIR wedge 418 such that theillumination light is incident on an internal surface of the TIR wedge418 (shown as the angled lower surface of the TRI wedge 418 in FIG. 4)at an angle that is beyond the critical angle as defined by Eqn 1.

Critical angle=arc−sin(1/n)  Eqn 1

Where the critical angle is the angle beyond which the illuminationlight is reflected from the internal surface when the internal surfacecomprises an interface from a solid with a higher refractive index (n)to air with a refractive index of 1 (e.g. for an interface of acrylic,with a refractive index of n=1.5, to air, the critical angle is 41.8degrees; for an interface of polycarbonate, with a refractive index ofn=1.59, to air the critical angle is 38.9 degrees). Consequently, theTIR wedge 418 is associated with a thin air gap 408 along the internalsurface to create an interface between a solid with a higher refractiveindex and air. By choosing the angle of the light source 404 relative tothe DLP 402 in correspondence to the angle of the internal surface ofthe TIR wedge 418, illumination light is turned toward the DLP 402 at anangle suitable for providing image light 414 as reflected from “on”pixels. Wherein, the illumination light is provided to the DLP 402 atapproximately twice the angle of the pixel mirrors in the DLP 402 thatare in the “on” state, such that after reflecting from the pixelmirrors, the image light 414 is directed generally along the opticalaxis of the field lens. Depending on the state of the DLP pixels, theillumination light from “on” pixels may be reflected as image light 414which is directed towards a field lens and a lower optical module 204,while illumination light reflected from “off” pixels (generally referredto herein as “dark” state light, “off” pixel light or “off” state light)410 is directed in a separate direction, which may be trapped and notused for the image that is ultimately presented to the wearer's eye.

The light trap for the dark state light 410 may be located along theoptical axis defined by the direction of the dark state light 410 and inthe side of the housing, with the function of absorbing the dark statelight. To this end, the light trap may be comprised of an area outsideof the cone of image light 414 from the “on” pixels. The light trap istypically made up of materials that absorb light including coatings ofblack paints or other light absorbing materials to prevent lightscattering from the dark state light degrading the image perceived bythe user. In addition, the light trap may be recessed into the wall ofthe housing or include masks or guards to block scattered light andprevent the light trap from being viewed adjacent to the displayedimage.

The embodiment of FIG. 4 also includes a corrective wedge 420 to correctthe effect of refraction of the image light 414 as it exits the TIRwedge 418. By including the corrective wedge 420 and providing a thinair gap 408 (e.g. 25 micron), the image light from the “on” pixels canbe maintained generally in a direction along the optical axis of thefield lens (i.e. the same direction as that defined by the image light414) so it passes into the field lens and the lower optical module 204.As shown in FIG. 4, the image light 414 from the “on” pixels exits thecorrective wedge 420 generally perpendicular to the surface of thecorrective wedge 420 while the dark state light exits at an obliqueangle. As a result, the direction of the image light 414 from the “on”pixels is largely unaffected by refraction as it exits from the surfaceof the corrective wedge 420. In contrast, the dark state light 410 issubstantially changed in direction by refraction when the dark statelight 410 exits the corrective wedge 420.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4 has the similar advantages of thosediscussed in connection with the embodiment of FIG. 3 b. The dimensionsand weight of the upper module 202 depicted in FIG. 4 may beapproximately 8×8 mm with a weight of less than 3 grams. A difference inoverall performance between the configuration illustrated in FIG. 3 band the configuration illustrated in FIG. 4 is that the embodiment ofFIG. 4 doesn't require the use of polarized light as supplied by thelight source 404. This can be an advantage in some situations as will bediscussed in more detail below (e.g. increased see-through transparencyof the HWC optics from the user's perspective). Polarized light may beused in connection with the embodiment depicted in FIG. 4, inembodiments. An additional advantage of the embodiment of FIG. 4compared to the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 b is that the dark statelight (shown as DLP off light 410) is directed at a steeper angle awayfrom the optical axis of the image light 414 due to the added refractionencountered when the dark state light 410 exits the corrective wedge420. This steeper angle of the dark state light 410 allows for the lighttrap to be positioned closer to the DLP 402 so that the overall size ofthe upper module 202 can be reduced. The light trap can also be madelarger since the light trap doesn't interfere with the field lens,thereby the efficiency of the light trap can be increased and as aresult, stray light can be reduced and the contrast of the imageperceived by the user can be increased. FIG. 4 a illustrates theembodiment described in connection with FIG. 4 with an example set ofcorresponding angles at the various surfaces with the reflected anglesof a ray of light passing through the upper optical module 202. In thisexample, the DLP mirrors are provided at 17 degrees to the surface ofthe DLP device. The angles of the TIR wedge are selected incorrespondence to one another to provide TIR reflected illuminationlight at the correct angle for the DLP mirrors while allowing the imagelight and dark state light to pass through the thin air gap, variouscombinations of angles are possible to achieve this.

FIG. 5 illustrates yet another embodiment of an upper optical module 202in accordance with the principles of the present invention. As with theembodiment shown in FIG. 4, the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 does notrequire the use of polarized light. Polarized light may be used inconnection with this embodiment, but it is not required. The opticalmodule 202 depicted in FIG. 5 is similar to that presented in connectionwith FIG. 4; however, the embodiment of FIG. 5 includes an off lightredirection wedge 502. As can be seen from the illustration, the offlight redirection wedge 502 allows the image light 414 to continuegenerally along the optical axis toward the field lens and into thelower optical module 204 (as illustrated). However, the off light 504 isredirected substantially toward the side of the corrective wedge 420where it passes into the light trap. This configuration may allowfurther height compactness in the HWC because the light trap (notillustrated) that is intended to absorb the off light 504 can bepositioned laterally adjacent the upper optical module 202 as opposed tobelow it. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 5 there is a thin air gapbetween the TIR wedge 418 and the corrective wedge 420 (similar to theembodiment of FIG. 4). There is also a thin air gap between thecorrective wedge 420 and the off light redirection wedge 502. There maybe HWC mechanical configurations that warrant the positioning of a lighttrap for the dark state light elsewhere and the illustration depicted inFIG. 5 should be considered illustrative of the concept that the offlight can be redirected to create compactness of the overall HWC. FIG. 5a illustrates an example of the embodiment described in connection withFIG. 5 with the addition of more details on the relative angles at thevarious surfaces and a light ray trace for image light and a light raytrace for dark light are shown as it passes through the upper opticalmodule 202. Again, various combinations of angles are possible.

FIG. 4 b shows an illustration of a further embodiment in which a solidtransparent matched set of wedges 456 is provided with a reflectivepolarizer 450 at the interface between the wedges. Wherein the interfacebetween the wedges in the wedge set 456 is provided at an angle so thatillumination light 452 from the polarized light source 458 is reflectedat the proper angle (e.g. 34 degrees for a 17 degree DLP mirror) for theDLP mirror “on” state so that the reflected image light 414 is providedalong the optical axis of the field lens. The general geometry of thewedges in the wedge set 456 is similar to that shown in FIGS. 4 and 4 a.A quarter wave film 454 is provided on the DLP 402 surface so that theillumination light 452 is one polarization state (e.g. S polarizationstate) while in passing through the quarter wave film 454, reflectingfrom the DLP mirror and passing back through the quarter wave film 454,the image light 414 is converted to the other polarization state (e.g. Ppolarization state). The reflective polarizer is oriented such that theillumination light 452 with it's polarization state is reflected and theimage light 414 with it's other polarization state is transmitted. Sincethe dark state light from the “off” pixels 410 also passes through thequarter wave film 454 twice, it is also the other polarization state(e.g. P polarization state) so that it is transmitted by the reflectivepolarizer 450.

The angles of the faces of the wedge set 450 correspond to the neededangles to provide illumination light 452 at the angle needed by the DLPmirrors when in the “on” state so that the reflected image light 414 isreflected from the DLP along the optical axis of the field lens. Thewedge set 456 provides an interior interface where a reflectivepolarizer film can be located to redirect the illumination light 452toward the mirrors of the DLP 402. The wedge set also provides a matchedwedge on the opposite side of the reflective polarizer 450 so that theimage light 414 from the “on” pixels exits the wedge set 450substantially perpendicular to the exit surface, while the dark statelight from the ‘off’ pixels 410 exits at an oblique angle to the exitsurface. As a result, the image light 414 is substantially unrefractedupon exiting the wedge set 456, while the dark state light from the“off” pixels 410 is substantially refracted upon exiting the wedge set456 as shown in FIG. 4 b.

By providing a solid transparent matched wedge set, the flatness of theinterface is reduced, because variations in the flatness have anegligible effect as long as they are within the cone angle of theilluminating light 452. Which can be f#2.2 with a 26 degree cone angle.In a preferred embodiment, the reflective polarizer is bonded betweenthe matched internal surfaces of the wedge set 456 using an opticaladhesive so that Fresnel reflections at the interfaces on either side ofthe reflective polarizer 450 are reduced. The optical adhesive can bematched in refractive index to the material of the wedge set 456 and thepieces of the wedge set 456 can be all made from the same material suchas BK7 glass or cast acrylic. Wherein the wedge material can be selectedto have low birefringence as well to reduce non-uniformities inbrightness. The wedge set 456 and the quarter wave film 454 can also bebonded to the DLP 402 to further reduce Fresnel reflections at the DLPinterface losses. In addition, since the image light 414 issubstantially normal to the exit surface of the wedge set 456, theflatness of the surface is not critical to maintain the wavefront of theimage light 414 so that high image quality can be obtained in thedisplayed image without requiring very tightly toleranced flatness onthe exit surface.

A yet further embodiment of the invention that is not illustrated,combines the embodiments illustrated in FIG. 4 b and FIG. 5. In thisembodiment, the wedge set 456 is comprised of three wedges with thegeneral geometry of the wedges in the wedge set corresponding to thatshown in FIGS. 5 and 5 a. A reflective polarizer is bonded between thefirst and second wedges similar to that shown in FIG. 4 b, however, athird wedge is provided similar to the embodiment of FIG. 5. Whereinthere is an angled thin air gap between the second and third wedges sothat the dark state light is reflected by TIR toward the side of thesecond wedge where it is absorbed in a light trap. This embodiment, likethe embodiment shown in FIG. 4 b, uses a polarized light source as hasbeen previously described. The difference in this embodiment is that theimage light is transmitted through the reflective polarizer and istransmitted through the angled thin air gap so that it exits normal tothe exit surface of the third wedge.

FIG. 5 b illustrates an upper optical module 202 with a dark light trap514 a. As described in connection with FIGS. 4 and 4 a, image light canbe generated from a DLP when using a TIR and corrective lensconfiguration. The upper module may be mounted in a HWC housing 510 andthe housing 510 may include a dark light trap 514 a. The dark light trap514 a is generally positioned/constructed/formed in a position that isoptically aligned with the dark light optical axis 512. As illustrated,the dark light trap may have depth such that the trap internallyreflects dark light in an attempt to further absorb the light andprevent the dark light from combining with the image light that passesthrough the field lens. The dark light trap may be of a shape and depthsuch that it absorbs the dark light. In addition, the dark light trap514 b, in embodiments, may be made of light absorbing materials orcoated with light absorbing materials. In embodiments, the recessedlight trap 514 a may include baffles to block a view of the dark statelight. This may be combined with black surfaces and textured or fiberoussurfaces to help absorb the light. The baffles can be part of the lighttrap, associated with the housing, or field lens, etc.

FIG. 5 c illustrates another embodiment with a light trap 514 b. As canbe seen in the illustration, the shape of the trap is configured toenhance internal reflections within the light trap 514 b to increase theabsorption of the dark light 512. FIG. 5 d illustrates anotherembodiment with a light trap 514 c. As can be seen in the illustration,the shape of the trap 514 c is configured to enhance internalreflections to increase the absorption of the dark light 512.

FIG. 5 e illustrates another embodiment of an upper optical module 202with a dark light trap 514 d. This embodiment of upper module 202includes an off light reflection wedge 502, as illustrated and describedin connection with the embodiment of FIGS. 5 and 5 a. As can be seen infigure Se, the light trap 514 d is positioned along the optical path ofthe dark light 512. The dark light trap 514 d may be configured asdescribed in other embodiments herein. The embodiment of the light trap514 d illustrated in figure Se includes a black area on the side wall ofthe wedge, wherein the side wall is located substantially away from theoptical axis of the image light 414. In addition, baffles 5252 may beadded to one or more edges of the field lens 312 to block the view ofthe light trap 514 d adjacent to the displayed image seen by the user.

FIG. 6 illustrates a combination of an upper optical module 202 with alower optical module 204. In this embodiment, the image light projectedfrom the upper optical module 202 may or may not be polarized. The imagelight is reflected off a flat combiner element 602 such that it isdirected towards the user's eye. Wherein, the combiner element 602 is apartial mirror that reflects image light while transmitting asubstantial portion of light from the environment so the user can lookthrough the combiner element and see the environment surrounding theHWC.

The combiner 602 may include a holographic pattern, to form aholographic mirror. If a monochrome image is desired, there may be asingle wavelength reflection design for the holographic pattern on thesurface of the combiner 602. If the intention is to have multiple colorsreflected from the surface of the combiner 602, a multiple wavelengthholographic mirror maybe included on the combiner surface. For example,in a three-color embodiment, where red, green and blue pixels aregenerated in the image light, the holographic mirror may be reflectiveto wavelengths substantially matching the wavelengths of the red, greenand blue light provided by the light source. This configuration can beused as a wavelength specific mirror where pre-determined wavelengths oflight from the image light are reflected to the user's eye. Thisconfiguration may also be made such that substantially all otherwavelengths in the visible pass through the combiner element 602 so theuser has a substantially clear view of the surroundings when lookingthrough the combiner element 602. The transparency between the user'seye and the surrounding may be approximately 80% when using a combinerthat is a holographic mirror. Wherein holographic mirrors can be madeusing lasers to produce interference patterns in the holographicmaterial of the combiner where the wavelengths of the lasers correspondto the wavelengths of light that are subsequently reflected by theholographic mirror.

In another embodiment, the combiner element 602 may include a notchmirror comprised of a multilayer coated substrate wherein the coating isdesigned to substantially reflect the wavelengths of light provided bythe light source and substantially transmit the remaining wavelengths inthe visible spectrum. For example, in the case where red, green and bluelight is provided by the light source to enable full color images to beprovided to the user, the notch mirror is a tristimulus notch mirrorwherein the multilayer coating is designed to reflect narrow bands ofred, green and blue light that are matched to the what is provided bythe light source and the remaining visible wavelengths are transmittedthrough the coating to enable a view of the environment through thecombiner. In another example where monochrome images are provided to theuser, the notch mirror is designed to reflect a single narrow band oflight that is matched to the wavelength range of the light provided bythe light source while transmitting the remaining visible wavelengths toenable a see-thru view of the environment. The combiner 602 with thenotch mirror would operate, from the user's perspective, in a mannersimilar to the combiner that includes a holographic pattern on thecombiner element 602. The combiner, with the tristimulus notch mirror,would reflect the “on” pixels to the eye because of the match betweenthe reflective wavelengths of the notch mirror and the color of theimage light, and the wearer would be able to see with high clarity thesurroundings. The transparency between the user's eye and thesurrounding may be approximately 80% when using the tristimulus notchmirror. In addition, the image provided by the upper optical module 202with the notch mirror combiner can provide higher contrast images thanthe holographic mirror combiner due to less scattering of the imaginglight by the combiner.

Light can escape through the combiner 602 and may produce face glow asthe light is generally directed downward onto the cheek of the user.When using a holographic mirror combiner or a tristimulus notch mirrorcombiner, the escaping light can be trapped to avoid face glow. Inembodiments, if the image light is polarized before the combiner, alinear polarizer can be laminated, or otherwise associated, to thecombiner, with the transmission axis of the polarizer oriented relativeto the polarized image light so that any escaping image light isabsorbed by the polarizer. In embodiments, the image light would bepolarized to provide S polarized light to the combiner for betterreflection. As a result, the linear polarizer on the combiner would beoriented to absorb S polarized light and pass P polarized light. Thisprovides the preferred orientation of polarized sunglasses as well.

If the image light is unpolarized, a microlouvered film such as aprivacy filter can be used to absorb the escaping image light whileproviding the user with a see-thru view of the environment. In thiscase, the absorbance or transmittance of the microlouvered film isdependent on the angle of the light. Where steep angle light is absorbedand light at less of an angle is transmitted. For this reason, in anembodiment, the combiner with the microlouver film is angled at greaterthan 45 degrees to the optical axis of the image light (e.g. thecombiner can be oriented at 50 degrees so the image light from the filelens is incident on the combiner at an oblique angle.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a combiner element 602 at variousangles when the combiner element 602 includes a holographic mirror.Normally, a mirrored surface reflects light at an angle equal to theangle that the light is incident to the mirrored surface. Typically,this necessitates that the combiner element be at 45 degrees, 602 a, ifthe light is presented vertically to the combiner so the light can bereflected horizontally towards the wearer's eye. In embodiments, theincident light can be presented at angles other than vertical to enablethe mirror surface to be oriented at other than 45 degrees, but in allcases wherein a mirrored surface is employed (including the tristimulusnotch mirror described previously), the incident angle equals thereflected angle. As a result, increasing the angle of the combiner 602 arequires that the incident image light be presented to the combiner 602a at a different angle which positions the upper optical module 202 tothe left of the combiner as shown in FIG. 7. In contrast, a holographicmirror combiner, included in embodiments, can be made such that light isreflected at a different angle from the angle that the light is incidentonto the holographic mirrored surface. This allows freedom to select theangle of the combiner element 602 b independent of the angle of theincident image light and the angle of the light reflected into thewearer's eye. In embodiments, the angle of the combiner element 602 b isgreater than 45 degrees (shown in FIG. 7) as this allows a morelaterally compact HWC design. The increased angle of the combinerelement 602 b decreases the front to back width of the lower opticalmodule 204 and may allow for a thinner HWC display (i.e. the furthestelement from the wearer's eye can be closer to the wearer's face).

FIG. 8 illustrates another embodiment of a lower optical module 204. Inthis embodiment, polarized image light provided by the upper opticalmodule 202, is directed into the lower optical module 204. The imagelight reflects off a polarized mirror 804 and is directed to a focusingpartially reflective mirror 802, which is adapted to reflect thepolarized light. An optical element such as a ¼ wave film locatedbetween the polarized mirror 804 and the partially reflective mirror802, is used to change the polarization state of the image light suchthat the light reflected by the partially reflective mirror 802 istransmitted by the polarized mirror 804 to present image light to theeye of the wearer. The user can also see through the polarized mirror804 and the partially reflective mirror 802 to see the surroundingenvironment. As a result, the user perceives a combined image comprisedof the displayed image light overlaid onto the see-thru view of theenvironment.

While many of the embodiments of the present invention have beenreferred to as upper and lower modules containing certain opticalcomponents, it should be understood that the image light and dark lightproduction and management functions described in connection with theupper module may be arranged to direct light in other directions (e.g.upward, sideward, etc.). In embodiments, it may be preferred to mountthe upper module 202 above the wearer's eye, in which case the imagelight would be directed downward. In other embodiments it may bepreferred to produce light from the side of the wearer's eye, or frombelow the wearer's eye. In addition, the lower optical module isgenerally configured to deliver the image light to the wearer's eye andallow the wearer to see through the lower optical module, which may beaccomplished through a variety of optical components.

FIG. 8 a illustrates an embodiment of the present invention where theupper optical module 202 is arranged to direct image light into a TIRwaveguide 810. In this embodiment, the upper optical module 202 ispositioned above the wearer's eye 812 and the light is directedhorizontally into the TIR waveguide 810. The TIR waveguide is designedto internally reflect the image light in a series of downward TIRreflections until it reaches the portion in front of the wearer's eye,where the light passes out of the TIR waveguide 812 into the wearer'seye. In this embodiment, an outer shield 814 is positioned in front ofthe TIR waveguide 810.

FIG. 8 b illustrates an embodiment of the present invention where theupper optical module 202 is arranged to direct image light into a TIRwaveguide 818. In this embodiment, the upper optical module 202 isarranged on the side of the TIR waveguide 818. For example, the upperoptical module may be positioned in the arm or near the arm of the HWCwhen configured as a pair of head worn glasses. The TIR waveguide 818 isdesigned to internally reflect the image light in a series of TIRreflections until it reaches the portion in front of the wearer's eye,where the light passes out of the TIR waveguide 812 into the wearer'seye.

FIG. 8 c illustrates yet further embodiments of the present inventionwhere an upper optical module 202 is directing polarized image lightinto an optical guide 828 where the image light passes through apolarized reflector 824, changes polarization state upon reflection ofthe optical element 822 which includes a ¼ wave film for example andthen is reflected by the polarized reflector 824 towards the wearer'seye, due to the change in polarization of the image light. The upperoptical module 202 may be positioned to direct light to a mirror 820, toposition the upper optical module 202 laterally, in other embodiments,the upper optical module 202 may direct the image light directly towardsthe polarized reflector 824. It should be understood that the presentinvention comprises other optical arrangements intended to direct imagelight into the wearer's eye.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to eye imaging. Inembodiments, a camera is used in connection with an upper optical module202 such that the wearer's eye can be imaged using pixels in the “off”state on the DLP. FIG. 9 illustrates a system where the eye imagingcamera 802 is mounted and angled such that the field of view of the eyeimaging camera 802 is redirected toward the wearer's eye by the mirrorpixels of the DLP 402 that are in the “off” state. In this way, the eyeimaging camera 802 can be used to image the wearer's eye along the sameoptical axis as the displayed image that is presented to the wearer.Wherein, image light that is presented to the wearer's eye illuminatesthe wearer's eye so that the eye can be imaged by the eye imaging camera802. In the process, the light reflected by the eye passes back thoughthe optical train of the lower optical module 204 and a portion of theupper optical module to where the light is reflected by the “off” pixelsof the DLP 402 toward the eye imaging camera 802.

In embodiments, the eye imaging camera may image the wearer's eye at amoment in time where there are enough “off” pixels to achieve therequired eye image resolution. In another embodiment, the eye imagingcamera collects eye image information from “off” pixels over time andforms a time lapsed image. In another embodiment, a modified image ispresented to the user wherein enough “off” state pixels are includedthat the camera can obtain the desired resolution and brightness forimaging the wearer's eye and the eye image capture is synchronized withthe presentation of the modified image.

The eye imaging system may be used for security systems. The HWC may notallow access to the HWC or other system if the eye is not recognized(e.g. through eye characteristics including retina or irischaracteristics, etc.). The HWC may be used to provide constant securityaccess in some embodiments. For example, the eye security confirmationmay be a continuous, near-continuous, real-time, quasi real-time,periodic, etc. process so the wearer is effectively constantly beingverified as known. In embodiments, the HWC may be worn and eye securitytracked for access to other computer systems.

The eye imaging system may be used for control of the HWC. For example,a blink, wink, or particular eye movement may be used as a controlmechanism for a software application operating on the HWC or associateddevice.

The eye imaging system may be used in a process that determines how orwhen the HWC 102 delivers digitally displayed content to the wearer. Forexample, the eye imaging system may determine that the user is lookingin a direction and then HWC may change the resolution in an area of thedisplay or provide some content that is associated with something in theenvironment that the user may be looking at. Alternatively, the eyeimaging system may identify different user's and change the displayedcontent or enabled features provided to the user. User's may beidentified from a database of users eye characteristics either locatedon the HWC 102 or remotely located on the network 110 or on a server112. In addition, the HWC may identify a primary user or a group ofprimary users from eye characteristics wherein the primary user(s) areprovided with an enhanced set of features and all other user's areprovided with a different set of features. Thus in this use case, theHWC 102 uses identified eye characteristics to either enable features ornot and eye characteristics need only be analyzed in comparison to arelatively small database of individual eye characteristics.

FIG. 10 illustrates a light source that may be used in association withthe upper optics module 202 (e.g. polarized light source if the lightfrom the solid state light source is polarized such as polarized lightsource 302 and 458), and light source 404. In embodiments, to provide auniform surface of light 1008 to be directed into the upper opticalmodule 202 and towards the DLP of the upper optical module, eitherdirectly or indirectly, the solid state light source 1002 may beprojected into a backlighting optical system 1004. The solid state lightsource 1002 may be one or more LEDs, laser diodes, OLEDs. Inembodiments, the backlighting optical system 1004 includes an extendedsection with a length/distance ratio of greater than 3, wherein thelight undergoes multiple reflections from the sidewalls to mix ofhomogenize the light as supplied by the solid state light source 1002.The backlighting optical system 1004 can also include structures on thesurface opposite (on the left side as shown in FIG. 10) to where theuniform light 1008 exits the backlight 1004 to change the direction ofthe light toward the DLP 302 and the reflective polarizer 310 or the DLP402 and the TIR wedge 418. The backlighting optical system 1004 may alsoinclude structures to collimate the uniform light 1008 to provide lightto the DLP with a smaller angular distribution or narrower cone angle.Diffusers or polarizers can be used on the entrance or exit surface ofthe backlighting optical system. Diffusers can be used to spread oruniformize the exiting light from the backlight to improve theuniformity or increase the angular spread of the uniform light 1008.Elliptical diffusers that diffuse the light more in some directions andless in others can be used to improve the uniformity or spread of theuniform light 1008 in directions orthogonal to the optical axis of theuniform light 1008. Linear polarizers can be used to convert unpolarizedlight as supplied by the solid state light source 1002 to polarizedlight so the uniform light 1008 is polarized with a desired polarizationstate. A reflective polarizer can be used on the exit surface of thebacklight 1004 to polarize the uniform light 1008 to the desiredpolarization state, while reflecting the other polarization state backinto the backlight where it is recycled by multiple reflections withinthe backlight 1004 and at the solid state light source 1002. Thereforeby including a reflective polarizer at the exit surface of the backlight1004, the efficiency of the polarized light source is improved.

FIGS. 10 a and 10 b show illustrations of structures in backlightoptical systems 1004 that can be used to change the direction of thelight provided to the entrance face 1045 by the light source and thencollimates the light in a direction lateral to the optical axis of theexiting uniform light 1008. Structure 1060 includes an angled sawtoothpattern in a transparent waveguide wherein the left edge of eachsawtooth clips the steep angle rays of light thereby limiting the angleof the light being redirected. The steep surface at the right (as shown)of each sawtooth then redirects the light so that it reflects off theleft angled surface of each sawtooth and is directed toward the exitsurface 1040. The sawtooth surfaces shown on the lower surface in FIGS.10 a and 10 b, can be smooth and coated (e.g. with an aluminum coatingor a dielectric mirror coating) to provide a high level of reflectivitywithout scattering. Structure 1050 includes a curved face on the leftside (as shown) to focus the rays after they pass through the exitsurface 1040, thereby providing a mechanism for collimating the uniformlight 1008. In a further embodiment, a diffuser can be provided betweenthe solid state light source 1002 and the entrance face 1045 tohomogenize the light provided by the solid state light source 1002. Inyet a further embodiment, a polarizer can be used between the diffuserand the entrance face 1045 of the backlight 1004 to provide a polarizedlight source. Because the sawtooth pattern provides smooth reflectivesurfaces, the polarization state of the light can be preserved from theentrance face 1045 to the exit face 1040. In this embodiment, the lightentering the backlight from the solid state light source 1002 passesthrough the polarizer so that it is polarized with the desiredpolarization state. If the polarizer is an absorptive linear polarizer,the light of the desired polarization state is transmitted while thelight of the other polarization state is absorbed. If the polarizer is areflective polarizer, the light of the desired polarization state istransmitted into the backlight 1004 while the light of the otherpolarization state is reflected back into the solid state light source1002 where it can be recycled as previously described, to increase theefficiency of the polarized light source.

FIG. 11 a illustrates a light source 1100 that may be used inassociation with the upper optics module 202. In embodiments, the lightsource 1100 may provide light to a backlighting optical system 1004 asdescribed above in connection with FIG. 10. In embodiments, the lightsource 1100 includes a tristimulus notch filter 1102. The tristimulusnotch filter 1102 has narrow band pass filters for three wavelengths, asindicated in FIG. 11 c in a transmission graph 1108. The graph shown inFIG. 11 b, as 1104 illustrates an output of three different coloredLEDs. One can see that the bandwidths of emission are narrow, but theyhave long tails. The tristimulus notch filter 1102 can be used inconnection with such LEDs to provide a light source 1100 that emitsnarrow filtered wavelengths of light as shown in FIG. 11 d as thetransmission graph 1110. Wherein the clipping effects of the tristimulusnotch filter 1102 can be seen to have cut the tails from the LEDemission graph 1104 to provide narrower wavelength bands of light to theupper optical module 202. The light source 1100 can be used inconnection with a combiner 602 with a holographic mirror or tristimulusnotch mirror to provide narrow bands of light that are reflected towardthe wearer's eye with less waste light that does not get reflected bythe combiner, thereby improving efficiency and reducing escaping lightthat can cause faceglow.

FIG. 12 a illustrates another light source 1200 that may be used inassociation with the upper optics module 202. In embodiments, the lightsource 1200 may provide light to a backlighting optical system 1004 asdescribed above in connection with FIG. 10. In embodiments, the lightsource 1200 includes a quantum dot cover glass 1202. Where the quantumdots absorb light of a shorter wavelength and emit light of a longerwavelength (FIG. 12 b shows an example wherein a UV spectrum 1202applied to a quantum dot results in the quantum dot emitting a narrowband shown as a PL spectrum 1204) that is dependent on the materialmakeup and size of the quantum dot. As a result, quantum dots in thequantum dot cover glass 1202 can be tailored to provide one or morebands of narrow bandwidth light (e.g. red, green and blue emissionsdependent on the different quantum dots included as illustrated in thegraph shown in FIG. 12 c where three different quantum dots are used. Inembodiments, the LED driver light emits UV light, deep blue or bluelight. For sequential illumination of different colors, multiple lightsources 1200 would be used where each light source 1200 would include aquantum dot cover glass 1202 with a quantum dot selected to emit at oneof the desired colors. The light source 1100 can be used in connectionwith a combiner 602 with a holographic mirror or tristimulus notchmirror to provide narrow transmission bands of light that are reflectedtoward the wearer's eye with less waste light that does not getreflected.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to the generation ofperipheral image lighting effects for a person wearing a HWC. Inembodiments, a solid state lighting system (e.g. LED, OLED, etc), orother lighting system, may be included inside the optical elements of anlower optical module 204. The solid state lighting system may bearranged such that lighting effects outside of a field of view (FOV) ofthe presented digital content is presented to create an emersive effectfor the person wearing the HWC. To this end, the lighting effects may bepresented to any portion of the HWC that is visible to the wearer. Thesolid state lighting system may be digitally controlled by an integratedprocessor on the HWC. In embodiments, the integrated processor willcontrol the lighting effects in coordination with digital content thatis presented within the FOV of the HWC. For example, a movie, picture,game, or other content, may be displayed or playing within the FOV ofthe HWC. The content may show a bomb blast on the right side of the FOVand at the same moment, the solid state lighting system inside of theupper module optics may flash quickly in concert with the FOV imageeffect. The effect may not be fast, it may be more persistent toindicate, for example, a general glow or color on one side of the user.The solid state lighting system may be color controlled, with red, greenand blue LEDs, for example, such that color control can be coordinatedwith the digitally presented content within the field of view.

FIG. 13 a illustrates optical components of a lower optical module 204together with an outer lens 1302. FIG. 13 a also shows an embodimentincluding effects LED's 1308 a and 1308 b. FIG. 13 a illustrates imagelight 1312, as described herein elsewhere, directed into the upperoptical module where it will reflect off of the combiner element 1304,as described herein elsewhere. The combiner element 1304 in thisembodiment is angled towards the wearer's eye at the top of the moduleand away from the wearer's eye at the bottom of the module, as alsoillustrated and described in connection with FIG. 8 (e.g. at a 45 degreeangle). The image light 1312 provided by an upper optical module 202(not shown in FIG. 13 a) reflects off of the combiner element 1304towards the collimating mirror 1310, away from the wearer's eye, asdescribed herein elsewhere. The image light 1312 then reflects andfocuses off of the collimating mirror 1304, passes back through thecombiner element 1304, and is directed into the wearer's eye. The wearercan also view the surrounding environment through the transparency ofthe combiner element 1304, collimating mirror 1310, and outer lens 1302(if it is included). As described herein elsewhere, various surfaces arepolarized to create the optical path for the image light and to providetransparency of the elements such that the wearer can view thesurrounding environment. The wearer will generally perceive that theimage light forms an image in the FOV 1305. In embodiments, the outerlens 1302 may be included. The outer lens 1302 is an outer lens that mayor may not be corrective and it may be designed to conceal the loweroptical module components in an effort to make the HWC appear to be in aform similar to standard glasses or sunglasses.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 13 a, the effects LEDs 1308 a and1308 b are positioned at the sides of the combiner element 1304 and theouter lens 1302 and/or the collimating mirror 1310. In embodiments, theeffects LEDs 1308 a are positioned within the confines defined by thecombiner element 1304 and the outer lens 1302 and/or the collimatingmirror. The effects LEDs 1308 a and 1308 b are also positioned outsideof the FOV 1305. In this arrangement, the effects LEDs 1308 a and 1308 bcan provide lighting effects within the lower optical module outside ofthe FOV 1305. In embodiments the light emitted from the effects LEDs1308 a and 1308 b may be polarized such that the light passes throughthe combiner element 1304 toward the wearer's eye and does not passthrough the outer lens 1302 and/or the collimating mirror 1310. Thisarrangement provides peripheral lighting effects to the wearer in a moreprivate setting by not transmitting the lighting effects through thefront of the HWC into the surrounding environment. However, in otherembodiments, the effects LEDs 1308 a and 1308 b may be unpolarized sothe lighting effects provided are made to be purposefully viewable byothers in the environment for entertainment such as giving the effect ofthe wearer's eye glowing in correspondence to the image content beingviewed by the wearer.

FIG. 13 b illustrates a cross section of the embodiment described inconnection with FIG. 13 a. As illustrated, the effects LED 1308 a islocated in the upper-front area inside of the optical components of thelower optical module. It should be understood that the effects LED 1308a position in the described embodiments is only illustrative andalternate placements are encompassed by the present invention.Additionallly, in embodiments, there may be one or more effects LEDs1308 a in each of the two sides of HWC to provide peripheral lightingeffects near one or both eyes of the wearer.

FIG. 13 c illustrates an embodiment where the combiner element 1304 isangled away from the eye at the top and towards the eye at the bottom(e.g. in accordance with the holographic or notch filter embodimentsdescribed herein). In this embodiment, the effects LED 1308 a is locatedon the outer lens 1302 side of the combiner element 1304 to provide aconcealed appearance of the lighting effects. As with other embodiments,the effects LED 1308 a of FIG. 13 c may include a polarizer such thatthe emitted light can pass through a polarized element associated withthe combiner element 1304 and be blocked by a polarized elementassociated with the outer lens 1302.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to the mitigation oflight escaping from the space between the wearer's face and the HWCitself. Another aspect of the present invention relates to maintaining acontrolled lighting environment in proximity to the wearer's eyes. Inembodiments, both the maintenance of the lighting environment and themitigation of light escape are accomplished by including a removable andreplaceable flexible shield for the HWC. Wherein the removable andreplaceable shield can be provided for one eye or both eyes incorrespondence to the use of the displays for each eye. For example, ina night vision application, the display to only one eye could be usedfor night vision while the display to the other eye is turned off toprovide good see-thru when moving between areas where visible light isavailable and dark areas where night vision enhancement is needed.

FIG. 14 a illustrates a removable and replaceable flexible eye cover1402 with an opening 1408 that can be attached and removed quickly fromthe HWC 102 through the use of magnets. Other attachment methods may beused, but for illustration of the present invention we will focus on amagnet implementation. In embodiments, magnets may be included in theeye cover 1402 and magnets of an opposite polarity may be included (e.g.embedded) in the frame of the HWC 102. The magnets of the two elementswould attract quite strongly with the opposite polarity configuration.In another embodiment, one of the elements may have a magnet and theother side may have metal for the attraction. In embodiments, the eyecover 1402 is a flexible elastomeric shield. In embodiments, the eyecover 1402 may be an elastomeric bellows design to accommodateflexibility and more closely align with the wearer's face. FIG. 14 billustrates a removable and replaceable flexible eye cover 1404 that isadapted as a single eye cover. In embodiments, a single eye cover may beused for each side of the HWC to cover both eyes of the wearer. Inembodiments, the single eye cover may be used in connection with a HWCthat includes only one computer display for one eye. Theseconfigurations prevent light that is generated and directed generallytowards the wearer's face by covering the space between the wearer'sface and the HWC. The opening 1408 allows the wearer to look through theopening 1408 to view the displayed content and the surroundingenvironment through the front of the HWC. The image light in the loweroptical module 204 can be prevented from emitting from the front of theHWC through internal optics polarization schemes, as described herein,for example.

FIG. 14 c illustrates another embodiment of a light suppression system.In this embodiment, the eye cover 1410 may be similar to the eye cover1402, but eye cover 1410 includes a front light shield 1412. The frontlight shield 1412 may be opaque to prevent light from escaping the frontlens of the HWC. In other embodiments, the front light shield 1412 ispolarized to prevent light from escaping the front lens. In a polarizedarrangement, in embodiments, the internal optical elements of the HWC(e.g. of the lower optical module 204) may polarize light transmittedtowards the front of the HWC and the front light shield 1412 may bepolarized to prevent the light from transmitting through the front lightshield 1412.

In embodiments, an opaque front light shield 1412 may be included andthe digital content may include images of the surrounding environmentsuch that the wearer can visualize the surrounding environment. One eyemay be presented with night vision environmental imagery and this eye'ssurrounding environment optical path may be covered using an opaquefront light shield 1412. In other embodiments, this arrangement may beassociated with both eyes.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to automaticallyconfiguring the lighting system(s) used in the HWC 102. In embodiments,the display lighting and/or effects lighting, as described herein, maybe controlled in a manner suitable for when an eye cover 1408 isattached or removed from the HWC 102. For example, at night, when thelight in the environment is low, the lighting system(s) in the HWC maygo into a low light mode to further control any amounts of stray lightescaping from the HWC and the areas around the HWC. Covert operations atnight, while using night vision or standard vision, may require asolution which prevents as much escaping light as possible so a user mayclip on the eye cover(s) 1408 and then the HWC may go into a low lightmode. The low light mode may, in some embodiments, only go into a lowlight mode when the eye cover 1408 is attached if the HWC identifiesthat the environment is in low light conditions (e.g. throughenvironment light level sensor detection). In embodiments, the low lightlevel may be determined to be at an intermediate point between full andlow light dependent on environmental conditions.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to automaticallycontrolling the type of content displayed in the HWC when eye covers1408 are attached or removed from the HWC. In embodiments, when the eyecover(s) 1408 is attached to the HWC, the displayed content may berestricted in amount or in color amounts. For example, the display(s)may go into a simple content delivery mode to restrict the amount ofinformation displayed. This may be done to reduce the amount of lightproduced by the display(s). In an embodiment, the display(s) may changefrom color displays to monochrome displays to reduce the amount of lightproduced. In an embodiment, the monochrome lighting may be red to limitthe impact on the wearer's eyes to maintain an ability to see better inthe dark.

Referring to FIG. 15, we now turn to describe a particular external userinterface 104, referred to generally as a pen 1500. The pen 1500 is aspecially designed external user interface 104 and can operate as a userinterface, such as to many different styles of HWC 102. The pen 1500generally follows the form of a conventional pen, which is a familiaruser handled device and creates an intuitive physical interface for manyof the operations to be carried out in the HWC system 100. The pen 1500may be one of several user interfaces 104 used in connection withcontrolling operations within the HWC system 100. For example, the HWC102 may watch for and interpret hand gestures 116 as control signals,where the pen 1500 may also be used as a user interface with the sameHWC 102. Similarly, a remote keyboard may be used as an external userinterface 104 in concert with the pen 1500. The combination of userinterfaces or the use of just one control system generally depends onthe operation(s) being executed in the HWC's system 100.

While the pen 1500 may follow the general form of a conventional pen, itcontains numerous technologies that enable it to function as an externaluser interface 104. FIG. 15 illustrates technologies comprised in thepen 1500. As can be seen, the pen 1500 may include a camera 1508, whichis arranged to view through lens 1502. The camera may then be focused,such as through lens 1502, to image a surface upon which a user iswriting or making other movements to interact with the HWC 102. Thereare situations where the pen 1500 will also have an ink, graphite, orother system such that what is being written can be seen on the writingsurface. There are other situations where the pen 1500 does not havesuch a physical writing system so there is no deposit on the writingsurface, where the pen would only be communicating data or commands tothe HWC 102. The lens configuration is described in greater detailherein. The function of the camera is to capture information from anunstructured writing surface such that pen strokes can be interpreted asintended by the user. To assist in the predication of the intendedstroke path, the pen 1500 may include a sensor, such as an IMU 1512. Ofcourse, the IMU could be included in the pen 1500 in its separate parts(e.g. gyro, accelerometer, etc.) or an IMU could be included as a singleunit. In this instance, the IMU 1512 is used to measure and predict themotion of the pen 1500. In turn, the integrated microprocessor 1510would take the IMU information and camera information as inputs andprocess the information to form a prediction of the pen tip movement.

The pen 1500 may also include a pressure monitoring system 1504, such asto measure the pressure exerted on the lens 1502. As will be describedin greater detail herein, the pressure measurement can be used topredict the user's intention for changing the weight of a line, type ofa line, type of brush, click, double click, and the like. Inembodiments, the pressure sensor may be constructed using any force orpressure measurement sensor located behind the lens 1502, including forexample, a resistive sensor, a current sensor, a capacitive sensor, avoltage sensor such as a piezoelectric sensor, and the like.

The pen 1500 may also include a communications module 1518, such as forbi-directional communication with the HWC 102. In embodiments, thecommunications module 1518 may be a short distance communication module(e.g. Bluetooth). The communications module 1518 may be security matchedto the HWC 102. The communications module 1518 may be arranged tocommunicate data and commands to and from the microprocessor 1510 of thepen 1500. The microprocessor 1510 may be programmed to interpret datagenerated from the camera 1508, IMU 1512, and pressure sensor 1504, andthe like, and then pass a command onto the HWC 102 through thecommunications module 1518, for example. In another embodiment, the datacollected from any of the input sources (e.g. camera 1508, IMU 1512,pressure sensor 1504) by the microprocessor may be communicated by thecommunication module 1518 to the HWC 102, and the HWC 102 may performdata processing and prediction of the user's intention when using thepen 1500. In yet another embodiment, the data may be further passed onthrough a network 110 to a remote device 112, such as a server, for thedata processing and prediction. The commands may then be communicatedback to the HWC 102 for execution (e.g. display writing in the glassesdisplay, make a selection within the UI of the glasses display, controla remote external device 112, control a local external device 108), andthe like. The pen may also include memory 1514 for long or short termuses.

The pen 1500 may also include a number of physical user interfaces, suchas quick launch buttons 1522, a touch sensor 1520, and the like. Thequick launch buttons 1522 may be adapted to provide the user with a fastway of jumping to a software application in the HWC system 100. Forexample, the user may be a frequent user of communication softwarepackages (e.g. email, text, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+, andthe like), and the user may program a quick launch button 1522 tocommand the HWC 102 to launch an application. The pen 1500 may beprovided with several quick launch buttons 1522, which may be userprogrammable or factory programmable. The quick launch button 1522 maybe programmed to perform an operation. For example, one of the buttonsmay be programmed to clear the digital display of the HWC 102. Thiswould create a fast way for the user to clear the screens on the HWC 102for any reason, such as for example to better view the environment. Thequick launch button functionality will be discussed in further detailbelow. The touch sensor 1520 may be used to take gesture style inputfrom the user. For example, the user may be able to take a single fingerand run it across the touch sensor 1520 to affect a page scroll.

The pen 1500 may also include a laser pointer 1524. The laser pointer1524 may be coordinated with the IMU 1512 to coordinate gestures andlaser pointing. For example, a user may use the laser 1524 in apresentation to help with guiding the audience with the interpretationof graphics and the IMU 1512 may, either simultaneously or when thelaser 1524 is off, interpret the user's gestures as commands or datainput.

FIGS. 16A-C illustrate several embodiments of lens and cameraarrangements 1600 for the pen 1500. One aspect relates to maintaining aconstant distance between the camera and the writing surface to enablethe writing surface to be kept in focus for better tracking of movementsof the pen 1500 over the writing surface. Another aspect relates tomaintaining an angled surface following the circumference of the writingtip of the pen 1500 such that the pen 1500 can be rolled or partiallyrolled in the user's hand to create the feel and freedom of aconventional writing instrument.

FIG. 16A illustrates an embodiment of the writing lens end of the pen1500. The configuration includes a ball lens 1604, a camera or imagecapture surface 1602, and a domed cover lens 1608. In this arrangement,the camera views the writing surface through the ball lens 1604 and domecover lens 1608. The ball lens 1604 causes the camera to focus such thatthe camera views the writing surface when the pen 1500 is held in thehand in a natural writing position, such as with the pen 1500 in contactwith a writing surface. In embodiments, the ball lens 1604 should beseparated from the writing surface to obtain the highest resolution ofthe writing surface at the camera 1602. In embodiments, the ball lens1604 is separated by approximately 1 to 3 mm. In this configuration, thedomed cover lens 1608 provides a surface that can keep the ball lens1604 separated from the writing surface at a constant distance, such assubstantially independent of the angle used to write on the writingsurface. For instance, in embodiments the field of view of the camera inthis arrangement would be approximately 60 degrees.

The domed cover lens, or other lens 1608 used to physically interactwith the writing surface, will be transparent or transmissive within theactive bandwidth of the camera 1602. In embodiments, the domed coverlens 1608 may be spherical or other shape and comprised of glass,plastic, sapphire, diamond, and the like. In other embodiments where lowresolution imaging of the surface is acceptable. The pen 1500 can omitthe domed cover lens 1608 and the ball lens 1604 can be in directcontact with the surface.

FIG. 16B illustrates another structure where the construction issomewhat similar to that described in connection with FIG. 16A; howeverthis embodiment does not use a dome cover lens 1608, but instead uses aspacer 1610 to maintain a predictable distance between the ball lens1604 and the writing surface, wherein the spacer may be spherical,cylindrical, tubular or other shape that provides spacing while allowingfor an image to be obtained by the camera 1602 through the lens 1604. Ina preferred embodiment, the spacer 1610 is transparent. In addition,while the spacer 1610 is shown as spherical, other shapes such as anoval, doughnut shape, half sphere, cone, cylinder or other form may beused.

FIG. 16C illustrates yet another embodiment, where the structureincludes a post 1614, such as running through the center of the lensedend of the pen 1500. The post 1614 may be an ink deposition system (e.g.ink cartridge), graphite deposition system (e.g. graphite holder), or adummy post whose purpose is mainly only that of alignment. The selectionof the post type is dependent on the pen's use. For instance, in theevent the user wants to use the pen 1500 as a conventional inkdepositing pen as well as a fully functional external user interface104, the ink system post would be the best selection. If there is noneed for the ‘writing’ to be visible on the writing surface, theselection would be the dummy post. The embodiment of FIG. 16C includescamera(s) 1602 and an associated lens 1612, where the camera 1602 andlens 1612 are positioned to capture the writing surface withoutsubstantial interference from the post 1614. In embodiments, the pen1500 may include multiple cameras 1602 and lenses 1612 such that more orall of the circumference of the tip 1614 can be used as an input system.In an embodiment, the pen 1500 includes a contoured grip that keeps thepen aligned in the user's hand so that the camera 1602 and lens 1612remains pointed at the surface.

Another aspect of the pen 1500 relates to sensing the force applied bythe user to the writing surface with the pen 1500. The force measurementmay be used in a number of ways. For example, the force measurement maybe used as a discrete value, or discontinuous event tracking, andcompared against a threshold in a process to determine a user's intent.The user may want the force interpreted as a ‘click’ in the selection ofan object, for instance. The user may intend multiple force exertionsinterpreted as multiple clicks. There may be times when the user holdsthe pen 1500 in a certain position or holds a certain portion of the pen1500 (e.g. a button or touch pad) while clicking to affect a certainoperation (e.g. a ‘right click’). In embodiments, the force measurementmay be used to track force and force trends. The force trends may betracked and compared to threshold limits, for example. There may be onesuch threshold limit, multiple limits, groups of related limits, and thelike. For example, when the force measurement indicates a fairlyconstant force that generally falls within a range of related thresholdvalues, the microprocessor 1510 may interpret the force trend as anindication that the user desires to maintain the current writing style,writing tip type, line weight, brush type, and the like. In the eventthat the force trend appears to have gone outside of a set of thresholdvalues intentionally, the microprocessor may interpret the action as anindication that the user wants to change the current writing style,writing tip type, line weight, brush type, and the like. Once themicroprocessor has made a determination of the user's intent, a changein the current writing style, writing tip type, line weight, brush type,and the like may be executed. In embodiments, the change may be noted tothe user (e.g. in a display of the HWC 102), and the user may bepresented with an opportunity to accept the change.

FIG. 17A illustrates an embodiment of a force sensing surface tip 1700of a pen 1500. The force sensing surface tip 1700 comprises a surfaceconnection tip 1702 (e.g. a lens as described herein elsewhere) inconnection with a force or pressure monitoring system 1504. As a useruses the pen 1500 to write on a surface or simulate writing on a surfacethe force monitoring system 1504 measures the force or pressure the userapplies to the writing surface and the force monitoring systemcommunicates data to the microprocessor 1510 for processing. In thisconfiguration, the microprocessor 1510 receives force data from theforce monitoring system 1504 and processes the data to make predictionsof the user's intent in applying the particular force that is currentlybeing applied. In embodiments, the processing may be provided at alocation other than on the pen (e.g. at a server in the HWC system 100,on the HWC 102). For clarity, when reference is made herein toprocessing information on the microprocessor 1510, the processing ofinformation contemplates processing the information at a location otherthan on the pen. The microprocessor 1510 may be programmed with forcethreshold(s), force signature(s), force signature library and/or othercharacteristics intended to guide an inference program in determiningthe user's intentions based on the measured force or pressure. Themicroprocessor 1510 may be further programmed to make inferences fromthe force measurements as to whether the user has attempted to initiatea discrete action (e.g. a user interface selection ‘click’) or isperforming a constant action (e.g. writing within a particular writingstyle). The inferencing process is important as it causes the pen 1500to act as an intuitive external user interface 104.

FIG. 17B illustrates a force 1708 versus time 1710 trend chart with asingle threshold 1718. The threshold 1718 may be set at a level thatindicates a discrete force exertion indicative of a user's desire tocause an action (e.g. select an object in a GUI). Event 1712, forexample, may be interpreted as a click or selection command because theforce quickly increased from below the threshold 1718 to above thethreshold 1718. The event 1714 may be interpreted as a double clickbecause the force quickly increased above the threshold 1718, decreasedbelow the threshold 1718 and then essentially repeated quickly. The usermay also cause the force to go above the threshold 1718 and hold for aperiod indicating that the user is intending to select an object in theGUI (e.g. a GUI presented in the display of the HWC 102) and ‘hold’ fora further operation (e.g. moving the object).

While a threshold value may be used to assist in the interpretation ofthe user's intention, a signature force event trend may also be used.The threshold and signature may be used in combination or either methodmay be used alone. For example, a single-click signature may berepresented by a certain force trend signature or set of signatures. Thesingle-click signature(s) may require that the trend meet a criteria ofa rise time between x any y values, a hold time of between a and bvalues and a fall time of between c and d values, for example.Signatures may be stored for a variety of functions such as click,double click, right click, hold, move, etc. The microprocessor 1510 maycompare the real-time force or pressure tracking against the signaturesfrom a signature library to make a decision and issue a command to thesoftware application executing in the GUI.

FIG. 17C illustrates a force 1708 versus time 1710 trend chart withmultiple thresholds 1718. By way of example, the force trend is plottedon the chart with several pen force or pressure events. As noted, thereare both presumably intentional events 1720 and presumablynon-intentional events 1722. The two thresholds 1718 of FIG. 4C createthree zones of force: a lower, middle and higher range. The beginning ofthe trend indicates that the user is placing a lower zone amount offorce. This may mean that the user is writing with a given line weightand does not intend to change the weight, the user is writing. Then thetrend shows a significant increase 1720 in force into the middle forcerange. This force change appears, from the trend to have been sudden andthereafter it is sustained. The microprocessor 1510 may interpret thisas an intentional change and as a result change the operation inaccordance with preset rules (e.g. change line width, increase lineweight, etc.). The trend then continues with a second apparentlyintentional event 1720 into the higher-force range. During theperformance in the higher-force range, the force dips below the upperthreshold 1718. This may indicate an unintentional force change and themicroprocessor may detect the change in range however not affect achange in the operations being coordinated by the pen 1500. As indicatedabove, the trend analysis may be done with thresholds and/or signatures.

Generally, in the present disclosure, instrument stroke parameterchanges may be referred to as a change in line type, line weight, tiptype, brush type, brush width, brush pressure, color, and other forms ofwriting, coloring, painting, and the like.

Another aspect of the pen 1500 relates to selecting an operating modefor the pen 1500 dependent on contextual information and/or selectioninterface(s). The pen 1500 may have several operating modes. Forinstance, the pen 1500 may have a writing mode where the userinterface(s) of the pen 1500 (e.g. the writing surface end, quick launchbuttons 1522, touch sensor 1520, motion based gesture, and the like) isoptimized or selected for tasks associated with writing. As anotherexample, the pen 1500 may have a wand mode where the user interface(s)of the pen is optimized or selected for tasks associated with softwareor device control (e.g. the HWC 102, external local device, remotedevice 112, and the like). The pen 1500, by way of another example, mayhave a presentation mode where the user interface(s) is optimized orselected to assist a user with giving a presentation (e.g. pointing withthe laser pointer 1524 while using the button(s) 1522 and/or gestures tocontrol the presentation or applications relating to the presentation).The pen may, for example, have a mode that is optimized or selected fora particular device that a user is attempting to control. The pen 1500may have a number of other modes and an aspect of the present inventionrelates to selecting such modes.

FIG. 18A illustrates an automatic user interface(s) mode selection basedon contextual information. The microprocessor 1510 may be programmedwith IMU thresholds 1814 and 1812. The thresholds 1814 and 1812 may beused as indications of upper and lower bounds of an angle 1804 and 1802of the pen 1500 for certain expected positions during certain predictedmodes. When the microprocessor 1510 determines that the pen 1500 isbeing held or otherwise positioned within angles 1802 corresponding towriting thresholds 1814, for example, the microprocessor 1510 may theninstitute a writing mode for the pen's user interfaces. Similarly, ifthe microprocessor 1510 determines (e.g. through the IMU 1512) that thepen is being held at an angle 1804 that falls between the predeterminedwand thresholds 1812, the microprocessor may institute a wand mode forthe pen's user interface. Both of these examples may be referred to ascontext based user interface mode selection as the mode selection isbased on contextual information (e.g. position) collected automaticallyand then used through an automatic evaluation process to automaticallyselect the pen's user interface(s) mode.

As with other examples presented herein, the microprocessor 1510 maymonitor the contextual trend (e.g. the angle of the pen over time) in aneffort to decide whether to stay in a mode or change modes. For example,through signatures, thresholds, trend analysis, and the like, themicroprocessor may determine that a change is an unintentional changeand therefore no user interface mode change is desired.

FIG. 18B illustrates an automatic user interface(s) mode selection basedon contextual information. In this example, the pen 1500 is monitoring(e.g. through its microprocessor) whether or not the camera at thewriting surface end 1508 is imaging a writing surface in close proximityto the writing surface end of the pen 1500. If the pen 1500 determinesthat a writing surface is within a predetermined relatively shortdistance, the pen 1500 may decide that a writing surface is present 1820and the pen may go into a writing mode user interface(s) mode. In theevent that the pen 1500 does not detect a relatively close writingsurface 1822, the pen may predict that the pen is not currently beingused to as a writing instrument and the pen may go into a non-writinguser interface(s) mode.

FIG. 18C illustrates a manual user interface(s) mode selection. The userinterface(s) mode may be selected based on a twist of a section 1824 ofthe pen 1500 housing, clicking an end button 1828, pressing a quicklaunch button 1522, interacting with touch sensor 1520, detecting apredetermined action at the pressure monitoring system (e.g. a click),detecting a gesture (e.g. detected by the IMU), etc. The manual modeselection may involve selecting an item in a GUI associated with the pen1500 (e.g. an image presented in the display of HWC 102).

In embodiments, a confirmation selection may be presented to the user inthe event a mode is going to change. The presentation may be physical(e.g. a vibration in the pen 1500), through a GUI, through a lightindicator, etc.

FIG. 19 illustrates a couple pen use-scenarios 1900 and 1901. There aremany use scenarios and we have presented a couple in connection withFIG. 19 as a way of illustrating use scenarios to further theunderstanding of the reader. As such, the use-scenarios should beconsidered illustrative and non-limiting.

Use scenario 1900 is a writing scenario where the pen 1500 is used as awriting instrument. In this example, quick launch button 122A is pressedto launch a note application 1910 in the GUI 1908 of the HWC 102 display1904. Once the quick launch button 122A is pressed, the HWC 102 launchesthe note program 1910 and puts the pen into a writing mode. The useruses the pen 1500 to scribe symbols 1902 on a writing surface, the penrecords the scribing and transmits the scribing to the HWC 102 wheresymbols representing the scribing are displayed 1912 within the noteapplication 1910.

Use scenario 1901 is a gesture scenario where the pen 1500 is used as agesture capture and command device. In this example, the quick launchbutton 122B is activated and the pen 1500 activates a wand mode suchthat an application launched on the HWC 102 can be controlled. Here, theuser sees an application chooser 1918 in the display(s) of the HWC 102where different software applications can be chosen by the user. Theuser gestures (e.g. swipes, spins, turns, etc.) with the pen to causethe application chooser 1918 to move from application to application.Once the correct application is identified (e.g. highlighted) in thechooser 1918, the user may gesture or click or otherwise interact withthe pen 1500 such that the identified application is selected andlaunched. Once an application is launched, the wand mode may be used toscroll, rotate, change applications, select items, initiate processes,and the like, for example.

In an embodiment, the quick launch button 122A may be activated and theHWC 102 may launch an application chooser presenting to the user a setof applications. For example, the quick launch button may launch achooser to show all communication programs (e.g. SMS, Twitter,Instagram, Facebook, email, etc.) available for selection such that theuser can select the program the user wants and then go into a writingmode. By way of further example, the launcher may bring up selectionsfor various other groups that are related or categorized as generallybeing selected at a given time (e.g. Microsoft Office products,communication products, productivity products, note products,organizational products, and the like)

FIG. 20 illustrates yet another embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 2000 illustrates a watchband clip on controller 2000. The watchbandclip on controller may be a controller used to control the HWC 102 ordevices in the HWC system 100. The watchband clip on controller 2000 hasa fastener 2018 (e.g. rotatable clip) that is mechanically adapted toattach to a watchband, as illustrated at 2004.

The watchband controller 2000 may have quick launch interfaces 2008(e.g. to launch applications and choosers as described herein), a touchpad 2014 (e.g. to be used as a touch style mouse for GUI control in aHWC 102 display) and a display 2012. The clip 2018 may be adapted to fita wide range of watchbands so it can be used in connection with a watchthat is independently selected for its function. The clip, inembodiments, is rotatable such that a user can position it in adesirable manner. In embodiments the clip may be a flexible strap. Inembodiments, the flexible strap may be adapted to be stretched to attachto a hand, wrist, finger, device, weapon, and the like.

In embodiments, the watchband controller may be configured as aremovable and replacable watchband. For example, the controller may beincorporated into a band with a certain width, segment spacing's, etc.such that the watchband, with its incorporated controller, can beattached to a watch body. The attachment, in embodiments, may bemechanically adapted to attach with a pin upon which the watchbandrotates. In embodiments, the watchband controller may be electricallyconnected to the watch and/or watch body such that the watch, watch bodyand/or the watchband controller can communicate data between them.

The watchband controller may have 3-axis motion monitoring (e.g. throughan IMU, accelerometers, magnetometers, gyroscopes, etc.) to capture usermotion. The user motion may then be interpreted for gesture control.

In embodiments, the watchband controller may comprise fitness sensorsand a fitness computer. The sensors may track heart rate, caloriesburned, strides, distance covered, and the like. The data may then becompared against performance goals and/or standards for user feedback.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to visual displaytechniques relating to micro Doppler (“mD”) target tracking signatures(“mD signatures”). mD is a radar technique that uses a series of angledependent electromagnetic pulses that are broadcast into an environmentand return pulses are captured. Changes between the broadcast pulse andreturn pulse are indicative of changes in the shape, distance andangular location of objects or targets in the environment. These changesprovide signals that can be used to track a target and identify thetarget through the mD signature. Each target or target type has a uniquemD signature. Shifts in the radar pattern can be analyzed in the timedomain and frequency domain based on mD techniques to derive informationabout the types of targets present (e.g. whether people are present),the motion of the targets and the relative angular location of thetargets and the distance to the targets. By selecting a frequency usedfor the mD pulse relative to known objects in the environment, the pulsecan penetrate the known objects to enable information about targets tobe gathered even when the targets are visually blocked by the knownobjects. For example, pulse frequencies can be used that will penetrateconcrete buildings to enable people to be identified inside thebuilding. Multiple pulse frequencies can be used as well in the mD radarto enable different types of information to be gathered about theobjects in the environment. In addition, the mD radar information can becombined with other information such as distance measurements or imagescaptured of the environment that are analyzed jointly to provideimproved object identification and improved target identification andtracking. In embodiments, the analysis can be performed on the HWC orthe information can be transmitted to a remote network for analysis andresults transmitted back to the HWC. Distance measurements can beprovided by laser range finding, structured lighting, stereoscopic depthmaps or sonar measurements. Images of the environment can be capturedusing one or more cameras capable of capturing images from visible,ultraviolet or infrared light. The mD radar can be attached to the HWC,located adjacently (e.g. in a vehicle) and associated wirelessly withthe HWC or located remotely. Maps or other previously determinedinformation about the environment can also be used in the analysis ofthe mD radar information. Embodiments of the present invention relate tovisualizing the mD signatures in useful ways.

FIG. 21 illustrates a FOV 2102 of a HWC 102 from a wearer's perspective.The wearer, as described herein elsewhere, has a see-through FOV 2102wherein the wearer views adjacent surroundings, such as the buildingsillustrated in FIG. 21. The wearer, as described herein elsewhere, canalso see displayed digital content presented within a portion of the FOV2102. The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 21 is indicating that thewearer can see the buildings and other surrounding elements in theenvironment and digital content representing traces, or travel paths, ofbullets being fired by different people in the area. The surroundingsare viewed through the transparency of the FOV 2102. The traces arepresented via the digital computer display, as described hereinelsewhere. In embodiments, the trace presented is based on a mDsignature that is collected and communicated to the HWC in real time.The mD radar itself may be on or near the wearer of the HWC 102 or itmay be located remote from the wearer. In embodiments, the mD radarscans the area, tracks and identifies targets, such as bullets, andcommunicates traces, based on locations, to the HWC 102.

There are several traces 2108 and 2104 presented to the wearer in theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 21. The traces communicated from the mDradar may be associated with GPS locations and the GPS locations may beassociated with objects in the environment, such as people, buildings,vehicles, etc, both in latitude and longitude perspective and anelevation perspective. The locations may be used as markers for the HWCsuch that the traces, as presented in the FOV, can be associated, orfixed in space relative to the markers. For example, if the friendlyfire trace 2108 is determined, by the mD radar, to have originated fromthe upper right window of the building on the left, as illustrated inFIG. 21, then a virtual marker may be set on or near the window. Whenthe HWC views, through it's camera or other sensor, for example, thebuilding's window, the trace may then virtually anchor with the virtualmarker on the window. Similarly, a marker may be set near thetermination position or other flight position of the friendly fire trace2108, such as the upper left window of the center building on the right,as illustrated in FIG. 21. This technique fixes in space the trace suchthat the trace appears fixed to the environmental positions independentof where the wearer is looking. So, for example, as the wearer's headturns, the trace appears fixed to the marked locations.

In embodiments, certain user positions may be known and thus identifiedin the FOV. For example, the shooter of the friendly fire trace 2108 maybe from a known friendly combatant and as such his location may beknown. The position may be known based on his GPS location based on amobile communication system on him, such as another HWC 102. In otherembodiments, the friendly combatant may be marked by another friendly.For example, if the friendly position in the environment is knownthrough visual contact or communicated information, a wearer of the HWC102 may use a gesture or external user interface 104 to mark thelocation. If a friendly combatant location is known the originatingposition of the friendly fire trace 2108 may be color coded or otherwisedistinguished from unidentified traces on the displayed digital content.Similarly, enemy fire traces 2104 may be color coded or otherwisedistinguished on the displayed digital content. In embodiments, theremay be an additional distinguished appearance on the displayed digitalcontent for unknown traces.

In addition to situationally associated trace appearance, the tracecolors or appearance may be different from the originating position tothe terminating position. This path appearance change may be based onthe mD signature. The mD signature may indicate that the bullet, forexample, is slowing as it propagates and this slowing pattern may bereflected in the FOV 2102 as a color or pattern change. This can createan intuitive understanding of wear the shooter is located. For example,the originating color may be red, indicative of high speed, and it maychange over the course of the trace to yellow, indicative of a slowingtrace. This pattern changing may also be different for a friendly, enemyand unknown combatant. The enemy may go blue to green for a friendlytrace, for example.

FIG. 21 illustrates an embodiment where the user sees the environmentthrough the FOV and may also see color coded traces, which are dependenton bullet speed and combatant type, where the traces are fixed inenvironmental positions independent on the wearer's perspective. Otherinformation, such as distance, range, range rings, time of day, date,engagement type (e.g. hold, stop firing, back away, etc.) may also bedisplayed in the FOV.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to mD radar techniquesthat trace and identify targets through other objects, such as walls(referred to generally as through wall mD), and visualization techniquesrelated therewith. FIG. 22 illustrates a through wall mD visualizationtechnique according to the principles of the present invention. Asdescribed herein elsewhere, the mD radar scanning the environment may belocal or remote from the wearer of a HWC 102. The mD radar may identifya target (e.g. a person) that is visible 2204 and then track the targetas he goes behind a wall 2208. The tracking may then be presented to thewearer of a HWC 102 such that digital content reflective of the targetand the target's movement, even behind the wall, is presented in the FOV2202 of the HWC 102. In embodiments, the target, when out of visiblesight, may be represented by an avatar in the FOV to provide the wearerwith imagery representing the target.

mD target recognition methods can identify the identity of a targetbased on the vibrations and other small movements of the target. Thiscan provide a personal signature for the target. In the case of humans,this may result in a personal identification of a target that has beenpreviously characterized. The cardio, heart beat, lung expansion andother small movements within the body may be unique to a person and ifthose attributes are pre-identified they may be matched in real time toprovide a personal identification of a person in the FOV 2202. Theperson's mD signatures may be determined based on the position of theperson. For example, the database of personal mD signature attributesmay include mD signatures for a person standing, sitting, laying down,running, walking, jumping, etc. This may improve the accuracy of thepersonal data match when a target is tracked through mD signaturetechniques in the field. In the event a person is personally identified,a specific indication of the person's identity may be presented in theFOV 2202. The indication may be a color, shape, shade, name, indicationof the type of person (e.g. enemy, friendly, etc.), etc. to provide thewearer with intuitive real time information about the person beingtracked. This may be very useful in a situation where there is more thanone person in an area of the person being tracked. If just one person inthe area is personally identified, that person or the avatar of thatperson can be presented differently than other people in the area.

FIG. 23 illustrates an mD scanned environment 2300. An mD radar may scanan environment in an attempt to identify objects in the environment. Inthis embodiment, the mD scanned environment reveals two vehicles 2302 aand 2302 b, en enemy combatant 2309, two friendly combatants 2308 a and2308 b and a shot trace 2318. Each of these objects may be personallyidentified or type identified. For example, the vehicles 2302 a and 2302b may be identified through the mD signatures as a tank and heavy truck.The enemy combatant 2309 may be identified as a type (e.g. enemycombatant) or more personally (e.g. by name). The friendly combatantsmay be identified as a type (e.g. friendly combatant) or more personally(e.g. by name). The shot trace 2318 may be characterized by type ofprojectile or weapon type for the projectile, for example.

FIG. 23 a illustrates two separate HWC 102 FOV display techniquesaccording to the principles of the present invention. FOV 2312illustrates a map view 2310 where the mD scanned environment ispresented. Here, the wearer has a perspective on the mapped area so hecan understand all tracked targets in the area. This allows the wearerto traverse the area with knowledge of the targets. FOV 2312 illustratesa heads-up view to provide the wearer with an augmented reality styleview of the environment that is in proximity of the wearer.

An aspect of the present invention relates to suppression of extraneousor stray light. As discussed herein elsewhere, eyeglow and faceglow aretwo such artifacts that develop from such light. Eyeglow and faceglowcan be caused by image light escaping from the optics module. Theescaping light is then visible, particularly in dark environments whenthe user is viewing bright displayed images with the HWC. Light thatescapes through the front of the HWC is visible as eyeglow as it thatlight that is visible in the region of the user's eyes. Eyeglow canappear in the form of a small version of the displayed image that theuser is viewing. Light that escapes from the bottom of the HWC shinesonto the user's face, cheek or chest so that these portions of the userappear to glow. Eyeglow and faceglow can both increase the visibility ofthe user and highlight the use of the HWC, which may be viewednegatively by the user. As such, reducing eyeglow and faceglow isadvantageous. In combat situations (e.g. the mD trace presentationscenerios described herein) and certain gaming situations, thesuppression of extraneous or stray light is very important.

The disclosure relating to FIG. 6 shows an example where a portion ofthe image light passes through the combiner 602 such that the lightshines onto the user's face, thereby illuminating a portion of theuser's face in what is generally referred to herein as faceglow.Faceglow be caused by any portion of light from the HWC that illuminatesthe user's face.

An example of the source for the faceglow light can come from wide coneangle light associated with the image light incident onto the combiner602. Where the combiner can include a holographic mirror or a notchmirror in which the narrow bands of high reflectivity are matched towavelengths of light by the light source. The wide cone angle associatedwith the image light corresponds with the field of view provided by theHWC. Typically the reflectivity of holographic mirrors and notch mirrorsis reduced as the cone angle of the incident light is increased above 8degrees. As a result, for a a field of view of 30 degrees, substantialimage light can pass through the combiner and cause faceglow.

FIG. 24 shows an illustration of a light trap 2410 for the faceglowlight. In this embodiment, an extension of the outer shield len of theHWC is coated with a light absorbing material in the region where theconverging light responsible for faceglow is absorbed in a light trap2410. The light absorbing material can be black or it can be a filterdesigned to absorb only the specific wavelengths of light provided bythe light source(s) in the HWC. In addition, the surface of the lighttrap 2410 may be textured or fibrous to further improve the absorption.

FIG. 25 illustrates an optical system for a HWC that includes an outerabsorptive polarizer 2520 to block the faceglow light. In thisembodiment, the image light is polarized and as a result the lightresponsible for faceglow is similarly polarized. The absorptivepolarizer is oriented with a transmission axis such that the faceglowlight is absorbed and not transmitted. In this case, the rest of theimaging system in the HWC may not require polarized image light and theimage light may be polarized at any point before the combiner. Inembodiments, the transmission axis of the absorptive polarizer 2520 isoriented vertically so that external glare from water (S polarizedlight) is absorbed and correspondingly, the polarization of the imagelight is selected to be horizontal (S polarization). Consequently, imagelight that passes through the combiner 602 and is then incident onto theabsorptive polarizer 2520, is absorbed. In FIG. 25 the absorptivepolarizer 2520 is shown outside the shield lens, alternatively theabsorptive polarizer 2520 can be located inside the shield lens.

FIG. 26 illustrates an optical system for a HWC that includes a filmwith an absorptive notch filter 2620. In this case, the absorptive notchfilter absorbs narrow bands of light that are selected to match thelight provided by the optical system's light source. As a result, theabsorptive notch filter is opaque with respect to the faceglow light andis transparent to the remainder of the wavelengths included in thevisible spectrum so that the user has a clear view of the surroundingenvironment. A triple notch filter suitable for this approach isavailable from Iridian Spectral Technologies, Ottawa, ON:http://www.ilphotonics.com/cdv2/Iridian-Interference %20Filters/New%20filters/Triple %20Notch %20Filter.pdf

In embodiments, the combiner 602 may include a notch mirror coating toreflect the wavelengths of light in the image light and a notch filter2620 can be selected in correspondence to the wavelengths of lightprovided by the light source and the narrow bands of high reflectivityprovided by the notch mirror. In this way, image light that is notreflected by the notch mirror is absorbed by the notch filter 2620. Inembodiments of the invention the light source can provide one narrowband of light for a monochrome imaging or three narrow bands of lightfor full color imaging. The notch mirror and associated notch filterwould then each provide one narrow band or three narrow bands of highreflectivity and absorption respectively.

FIG. 27 includes a microlouver film 2750 to block the faceglow light.Microlouver film is sold by 3M as ALCF-P, for example and is typicallyused as a privacy filter for computer. Seehttp://multimedia.3m.com/mws/mediawebserver?mwsld=SSSSSuH8gc7nZxtUoY_xIY_eevUqe17zHvTSevTSeSSSSSS--&fn=ALCF-P_ABR2_Control_Film_DS.pdf Themicrolouver film transmits light within a somewhat narrow angle (e.g. 30degrees of normal and absorbs light beyond 30 degrees of normal). InFIG. 27, the microlouver film 2750 is positioned such that the faceglowlight 2758 is incident beyond 30 degrees from normal while thesee-through light 2755 is incident within 30 degrees of normal to themicrolouver film 2750. As such, the faceglow light 2758 is absorbed bythe microlouver film and the see-through light 2755 is transmitted sothat the user has a bright see-thru view of the surrounding environment.

We now turn back to a description of eye imaging technologies. Aspectsof the present invention relate to various methods of imaging the eye ofa person wearing the HWC 102. In embodiments, technologies for imagingthe eye using an optical path involving the “off” state and “no power”state, which is described in detail below, are described. Inembodiments, technologies for imaging the eye with opticalconfigurations that do not involve reflecting the eye image off of DLPmirrors is described. In embodiments, unstructured light, structuredlight, or controlled lighting conditions, are used to predict the eye'sposition based on the light reflected off of the front of the wearer'seye. In embodiments, a reflection of a presented digital content imageis captured as it reflects off of the wearer's eye and the reflectedimage may be processed to determine the quality (e.g. sharpness) of theimage presented. In embodiments, the image may then be adjusted (e.g.focused differently) to increase the quality of the image presentedbased on the image reflection.

FIGS. 28 a, 28 b and 28 c show illustrations of the various positions ofthe DLP mirrors. FIG. 28 a shows the DLP mirrors in the “on” state 2815.With the mirror in the “on” state 2815, illumination light 2810 isreflected along an optical axis 2820 that extends into the lower opticalmodule 204. FIG. 28 b shows the DLP mirrors in the “off” state 2825.With the mirror in the “off” state 2825, illumination light 2810 isreflected along an optical axis 2830 that is substantially to the sideof optical axis 2820 so that the “off” state light is directed toward adark light trap as has been described herein elsewhere. FIG. 28 c showsthe DLP mirrors in a third position, which occurs when no power isapplied to the DLP. This “no power” state differs from the “on” and“off” states in that the mirror edges are not in contact with thesubstrate and as such are less accurately positioned. FIG. 28 c showsall of the DLP mirrors in the “no power” state 2835. The “no power”state is achieved by simultaneously setting the voltage to zero for the“on” contact and “off” contact for a DLP mirror, as a result, the mirrorreturns to a no stress position where the DLP mirror is in the plane ofthe DLP platform as shown in FIG. 28 c. Although not normally done, itis also possible to apply the “no power” state to individual DLPmirrors. When the DLP mirrors are in the “no power” state they do notcontribute image content. Instead, as shown in FIG. 28 c, when the DLPmirrors are in the “no power” state, the illumination light 2810 isreflected along an optical axis 2840 that is between the optical axes2820 and 2830 that are respectively associated with the “on” and “off”states and as such this light doesn't contribute to the displayed imageas a bright or dark pixel. This light can however contribute scatteredlight into the lower optical module 204 and as a result the displayedimage contrast can be reduced or artifacts can be created in the imagethat detract from the image content. Consequently, it is generallydesirable, in embodiments, to limit the time associated with the “nopower” state to times when images are not displayed or to reduce thetime associated with having DLP mirrors in the “no power” state so thatthe affect of the scattered light is reduced.

FIG. 29 shows an embodiment of the invention that can be used fordisplaying digital content images to a wearer of the HWC 102 andcapturing images of the wearer's eye. In this embodiment, light from theeye 2971 passes back through the optics in the lower module 204, thesolid corrective wedge 2966, at least a portion of the light passesthrough the partially reflective layer 2960, the solid illuminationwedge 2964 and is reflected by a plurality of DLP mirrors on the DLP2955 that are in the “no power” state. The reflected light then passesback through the illumination wedge 2964 and at least a portion of thelight is reflected by the partially reflective layer 2960 and the lightis captured by the camera 2980.

For comparison, illuminating light rays 2973 from the light source 2958are also shown being reflected by the partially reflective layer 2960.Where the angle of the illuminating light 2973 is such that the DLPmirrors, when in the “on” state, reflect the illuminating light 2973 toform image light 2969 that substantially shares the same optical axis asthe light from the wearer's eye 2971. In this way, images of thewearer's eye are captured in a field of view that overlaps the field ofview for the displayed image content. In contrast, light reflected byDLP mirrors in the “off” state form dark light 2975 which is directedsubstantially to the side of the image light 2969 and the light from eye2971. Dark light 2975 is directed toward a light trap 2962 that absorbsthe dark light to improve the contrast of the displayed image as hasbeen described above in this specification.

In an embodiment, partially reflective layer 2960 is a reflectivepolarizer. The light that is reflected from the eye 2971 can then bepolarized prior to entering the corrective wedge 2966 (e.g with anabsorptive polarizer between the upper module 202 and the lower module204), with a polarization orientation relative to the reflectivepolarizer that enables the light reflected from the eye 2971 tosubstantially be transmitted by the reflective polarizer. A quarter waveretarder layer 2957 is then included adjacent to the DLP 2955 (aspreviously disclosed in FIG. 3 b) so that the light reflected from theeye 2971 passes through the quarter wave retarder layer 2957 once beforebeing reflected by the plurality of DLP mirrors in the “no power” stateand then passes through a second time after being reflected. By passingthrough the quarter wave retarder layer 2957 twice, the polarizationstate of the light from the eye 2971 is reversed, such that when it isincident upon the reflective polarizer, the light from the eye 2971 isthen substantially reflected toward the camera 2980. By using apartially reflective layer 2960 that is a reflective polarizer andpolarizing the light from the eye 2971 prior to entering the correctivewedge 2964, losses attributed to the partially reflective layer 2960 arereduced.

FIG. 28 c shows the case wherein the DLP mirrors are simultaneously inthe “no power” state, this mode of operation can be particularly usefulwhen the HWC 102 is first put onto the head of the wearer. When the HWC102 is first put onto the head of the wearer, it is not necessary todisplay an image yet. As a result, the DLP can be in a “no power” statefor all the DLP mirrors and an image of the wearer's eyes can becaptured. The captured image of the wearer's eye can then be compared toa database, using iris identification techniques, or other eye patternidentification techniques to determine, for example, the identity of thewearer.

In a further embodiment illustrated by FIG. 29 all of the DLP mirrorsare put into the “no power” state for a portion of a frame time (e.g.50% of a frame time for the displayed digital content image) and thecapture of the eye image is synchronized to occur at the same time andfor the same duration. By reducing the time that the DLP mirrors are inthe “no power” state, the time where light is scattered by the DLPmirrors being in the “no power” state is reduced such that the wearerdoesn't perceive a change in the displayed image quality. This ispossible because the DLP mirrors have a response time on the order ofmicroseconds while typical frame times for a displayed image are on theorder of 0.016 seconds. This method of capturing images of the wearer'seye can be used periodically to capture repetitive images of thewearer's eye. For example, eye images could be captured for 50% of theframe time of every 10^(th) frame displayed to the wearer. In anotherexample, eye images could be captured for 10% of the frame time of everyframe displayed to the wearer.

Alternately, the “no power” state can be applied to a subset of the DLPmirrors (e.g. 10% of the DLP mirrors) within while another subset is inbusy generating image light for content to be displayed. This enablesthe capture of an eye image(s) during the display of digital content tothe wearer. The DLP mirrors used for eye imaging can, for example, bedistributed randomly across the area of the DLP to minimize the impacton the quality of the digital content being displayed to the wearer. Toimprove the displayed image perceived by the wearer, the individual DLPmirrors put into the “no power” state for capturing each eye image, canbe varied over time such as in a random pattern, for example. In yet afurther embodiment, the DLP mirrors put into the “no power” state foreye imaging may be coordinated with the digital content in such a waythat the “no power” mirrors are taken from a portion of the image thatrequires less resolution.

In the embodiments of the invention as illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 29, inboth cases the reflective surfaces provided by the DLP mirrors do notpreserve the wavefront of the light from the wearer's eye so that theimage quality of captured image of the eye is somewhat limited. It maystill be useful in certain embodiments, but it is somewhat limited. Thisis due to the DLP mirrors not being constrained to be on the same plane.In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 9, the DLP mirrors are tilted sothat they form rows of DLP mirrors that share common planes. In theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 29, the individual DLP mirrors are notaccurately positioned to be in the same plane since they are not incontact with the substrate. Examples of advantages of the embodimentsassociated with FIG. 29 are: first, the camera 2980 can be locatedbetween the DLP 2955 and the illumination light source 2958 to provide amore compact upper module 202. Second, the polarization state of thelight reflected from the eye 2971 can be the same as that of the imagelight 2969 so that the optical path of the light reflected from the eyeand the image light can be the same in the lower module 204.

FIG. 30 shows an illustration of an embodiment for displaying images tothe wearer and simultaneously capturing images of the wearer's eye,wherein light from the eye 2971 is reflected towards a camera 3080 bythe partially reflective layer 2960. The partially reflective layer 2960can be an optically flat layer such that the wavefront of the light fromthe eye 2971 is preserved and as a result, higher quality images of thewearer's eye can be captured. In addition, since the DLP 2955 is notincluded in the optical path for the light from the eye 2971, and theeye imaging process shown in FIG. 30 does not interfere with thedisplayed image, images of the wearer's eye can be capturedindependently (e.g. with independent of timing, impact on resolution, orpixel count used in the image light) from the displayed images.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 30, the partially reflective layer2960 is a reflective polarizer, the illuminating light 2973 ispolarized, the light from the eye 2971 is polarized and the camera 3080is located behind a polarizer 3085. The polarization axis of theilluminating light 2973 and the polarization axis of the light from theeye are oriented perpendicular to the transmission axis of thereflective polarizer so that they are both substantially reflected bythe reflective polarizer. The illumination light 2973 passes through aquarter wave layer 2957 before being reflected by the DLP mirrors in theDLP 2955. The reflected light passes back through the quarter wave layer2957 so that the polarization states of the image light 2969 and darklight 2975 are reversed in comparison to the illumination light 2973. Assuch, the image light 2969 and dark light 2975 are substantiallytransmitted by the reflective polarizer. Where the DLP mirrors in the“on” state provide the image light 2969 along an optical axis thatextends into the lower optical module 204 to display an image to thewearer. At the same time, DLP mirrors in the “off” state provide thedark light 2975 along an optical axis that extends to the side of theupper optics module 202. In the region of the corrective wedge 2966where the dark light 2975 is incident on the side of the upper opticsmodule 202, an absorptive polarizer 3085 is positioned with it'stransmission axis perpendicular to the polarization axis of the darklight and parallel to the polarization axis of the light from the eye sothat the dark light 2975 is absorbed and the light from the eye 2971 istransmitted to the camera 3080.

FIG. 31 shows an illustration of another embodiment of a system fordisplaying images and simultaneously capturing image of the wearer's eyethat is similar to the one shown in FIG. 30. The difference in thesystem shown in FIG. 31 is that the light from the eye 2971 is subjectedto multiple reflections before being captured by the camera 3180. Toenable the multiple reflections, a mirror 3187 is provided behind theabsorptive polarizer 3185. Therefore, the light from the eye 2971 ispolarized prior to entering the corrective wedge 2966 with apolarization axis that is perpendicular to the transmission axis of thereflective polarizer that comprises the partially reflective layer 2960.In this way, the light from the eye 2971 is reflected first by thereflective polarizer, reflected second by the mirror 3187 and reflectedthird by the reflective polarizer before being captured by the camera3180. While the light from the eye 2971 passes through the absorptivepolarizer 3185 twice, since the polarization axis of the light from theeye 2971 is oriented parallel to the polarization axis of the light fromthe eye 2971, it is substantially transmitted by the absorptivepolarizer 3185. As with the system described in connection with FIG. 30,the system shown in FIG. 31 includes an optically flat partiallyreflective layer 2960 that preserves the wavefront of the light from theeye 2971 so that higher quality images of the wearer's eye can becaptured. Also, since the DLP 2955 is not included in the optical pathfor the light reflected from the eye 2971 and the eye imaging processshown in FIG. 31 does not interfere with the displayed image, images ofthe wearer's eye can be captured independently from the displayedimages.

FIG. 32 shows an illustration of a system for displaying images andsimultaneously capturing images of the wearer's eye that includes a beamsplitter plate 3212 comprised of a reflective polarizer, which is heldin air between the light source 2958, the DLP 2955 and the camera 3280.The illumination light 2973 and the light from the eye 2971 are bothpolarized with polarization axes that are perpendicular to thetransmission axis of the reflective polarizer. As a result, both theillumination light 2973 and the light from the eye 2971 aresubstantially reflected by the reflective polarizer. The illuminationlight 2873 is reflected toward the DLP 2955 by the reflective polarizerand split into image light 2969 and dark light 3275 depending on whetherthe individual DLP mirrors are respectively in the “on” state or the“off” state. By passing through the quarter wave layer 2957 twice, thepolarization state of the illumination light 2973 is reversed incomparison to the polarization state of the image light 2969 and thedark light 3275. As a result, the image light 2969 and the dark light3275 are then substantially transmitted by the reflective polarizer. Theabsorptive polarizer 3285 at the side of the beam splitter plate 3212has a transmission axis that is perpendicular to the polarization axisof the dark light 3275 and parallel to the polarization axis of thelight from the eye 2971 so that the dark light 3275 is absorbed and thelight from the eye 2971 is transmitted to the camera 3280. As in thesystem shown in FIG. 30, the system shown in FIG. 31 includes anoptically flat beam splitter plate 3212 that preserves the wavefront ofthe light from the eye 2971 so that higher quality images of thewearer's eye can be captured. Also, since the DLP 2955 is not includedin the optical path for the light from the eye 2971 and the eye imagingprocess shown in FIG. 31 does not interfere with the displayed image,images of the wearer's eye can be captured independently from thedisplayed images.

Eye imaging systems where the polarization state of the light from theeye 2971 needs to be opposite to that of the image light 2969 (as shownin FIGS. 30, 31 and 32), need to be used with lower modules 204 thatinclude combiners that will reflect both polarization states. As such,these upper modules 202 are best suited for use with the lower modules204 that include combiners that are reflective regardless ofpolarization state, examples of these lower modules are shown in FIGS.6, 8 a, 8 b, 8 c and 24-27.

In a further embodiment shown in FIG. 33, the partially reflective layer3360 is comprised of a reflective polarizer on the side facing theillumination light 2973 and a short pass dichroic mirror on the sidefacing the light from the eye 3371 and the camera 3080. Where the shortpass dichroic mirror is a dielectric mirror coating that transmitsvisible light and reflects infrared light. The partially reflectivelayer 3360 can be comprised of a reflective polarizer bonded to theinner surface of the illumination wedge 2964 and a short pass dielectricmirror coating on the opposing inner surface of the corrective wedge2966, wherein the illumination wedge 2964 and the corrective wedge 2966are then optically bonded together. Alternatively, the partiallyreflective layer 3360 can be comprised of a thin substrate that has areflective polarizer bonded to one side and a short pass dichroic mirrorcoating on the other side, where the partially reflective layer 3360 isthen bonded between the illumination wedge 2964 and the corrective wedge2966. In this embodiment, an infrared light is included to illuminatethe eye so that the light from the eye and the images captured of theeye are substantially comprised of infrared light. The wavelength of theinfrared light is then matched to the reflecting wavelength of theshortpass dichroic mirror and the wavelength that the camera can captureimages, for example an 800 nm wavelength can be used. In this way, theshort pass dichroic mirror transmits the image light and reflects thelight from the eye. The camera 3080 is then positioned at the side ofthe corrective wedge 2966 in the area of the absorbing light trap 3382,which is provided to absorb the dark light 2975. By positioning thecamera 3080 in a depression in the absorbing light trap 3382, scatteringof the dark light 2975 by the camera 3080 can be reduced so that highercontrast images can be displayed to the wearer. An advantage of thisembodiment is that the light from the eye need not be polarized, whichcan simplify the optical system and increase efficiency for the eyeimaging system.

In yet another embodiment shown in FIG. 32 a a beam splitter plate 3222is comprised of a reflective polarizer on the side facing theillumination light 2973 and a short pass dichroic mirror on the sidefacing the light from the eye 3271 and the camera 3280. An absorbingsurface 3295 is provided to trap the dark light 3275 and the camera 3280is positioned in an opening in the absorbing surface 3295. In this waythe system of FIG. 32 can be made to function with unpolarized lightfrom the eye 3271.

In embodiments directed to capturing images of the wearer's eye, lightto illuminate the wearer's eye can be provided by several differentsources including: light from the displayed image (i.e. image light);light from the environment that passes through the combiner or otheroptics; light provided by a dedicated eye light, etc. FIGS. 34 and 34 ashow illustrations of dedicated eye illumination lights 3420. FIG. 34shows an illustration from a side view in which the dedicatedillumination eye light 3420 is positioned at a corner of the combiner3410 so that it doesn't interfere with the image light 3415. Thededicated eye illumination light 3420 is pointed so that the eyeillumination light 3425 illuminates the eyebox 3427 where the eye 3430is located when the wearer is viewing displayed images provided by theimage light 3415. FIG. 34 a shows an illustration from the perspectiveof the eye of the wearer to show how the dedicated eye illuminationlight 3420 is positioned at the corner of the combiner 3410. While thededicated eye illumination light 3420 is shown at the upper left cornerof the combiner 3410, other positions along one of the edges of thecombiner 3410, or other optical or mechanical components, are possibleas well. In other embodiments, more than one dedicated eye light 3420with different positions can be used. In an embodiment, the dedicatedeye light 3420 is an infrared light that is not visible by the wearer(e.g. 800 nm) so that the eye illumination light 3425 doesn't interferewith the displayed image perceived by the wearer.

FIG. 35 shows a series of illustrations of captured eye images that showthe eye glint (i.e. light that reflects off the front of the eye)produced by a dedicated eye light. In this embodiment of the invention,captured images of the wearer's eye are analyzed to determine therelative positions of the iris 3550, pupil, or other portion of the eye,and the eye glint 3560. The eye glint is a reflected image of thededicated eye light 3420 when the dedicated light is used. FIG. 35illustrates the relative positions of the iris 3550 and the eye glint3560 for a variety of eye positions. By providing a dedicated eye light3420 in a fixed position, combined with the fact that the human eye isessentially spherical, or at least a reliably repeatable shape, the eyeglint provides a fixed reference point against which the determinedposition of the iris can be compared to determine where the wearer islooking, either within the displayed image or within the see-throughview of the surrounding environment. By positioning the dedicated eyelight 3420 at a corner of the combiner 3410, the eye glint 3560 isformed away from the iris 3550 in the captured images. As a result, thepositions of the iris and the eye glint can be determined more easilyand more accurately during the analysis of the captured images, sincethey do not interfere with one another. In a further embodiment, thecombiner includes an associated cut filter that prevents infrared lightfrom the environment from entering the HWC and the camera is an infraredcamera, so that the eye glint is only provided by light from thededicated eye light. For example, the combiner can include a low passfilter that passes visible light while absorbing infrared light and thecamera can include a high pass filter that absorbs visible light whilepassing infrared light.

In an embodiment of the eye imaging system, the lens for the camera isdesigned to take into account the optics associated with the uppermodule 202 and the lower module 204. This is accomplished by designingthe camera to include the optics in the upper module 202 and optics inthe lower module 204, so that a high MTF image is produced, at the imagesensor in the camera, of the wearer's eye. In yet a further embodiment,the camera lens is provided with a large depth of field to eliminate theneed for focusing the camera to enable sharp image of the eye to becaptured. Where a large depth of field is typically provided by a highf/# lens (e.g. f/#>5). In this case, the reduced light gatheringassociated with high f/# lenses is compensated by the inclusion of adedicated eye light to enable a bright image of the eye to be captured.Further, the brightness of the dedicated eye light can be modulated andsynchronized with the capture of eye images so that the dedicated eyelight has a reduced duty cycle and the brightness of infrared light onthe wearer's eye is reduced.

In a further embodiment, FIG. 36 a shows an illustration of an eye imagethat is used to identify the wearer of the HWC. In this case, an imageof the wearer's eye 3611 is captured and analyzed for patterns ofidentifiable features 3612. The patterns are then compared to a databaseof eye images to determine the identity of the wearer. After theidentity of the wearer has been verified, the operating mode of the HWCand the types of images, applications, and information to be displayedcan be adjusted and controlled in correspondence to the determinedidentity of the wearer. Examples of adjustments to the operating modedepending on who the wearer is determined to be or not be include:making different operating modes or feature sets available, shuttingdown or sending a message to an external network, allowing guestfeatures and applications to run, etc.

is an illustration of another embodiment using eye imaging, in which thesharpness of the displayed image is determined based on the eye glintproduced by the reflection of the displayed image from the wearer's eyesurface. By capturing images of the wearer's eye 3611, an eye glint3622, which is a small version of the displayed image can be capturedand analyzed for sharpness. If the displayed image is determined to notbe sharp, then an automated adjustment to the focus of the HWC opticscan be performed to improve the sharpness. This ability to perform ameasurement of the sharpness of a displayed image at the surface of thewearer's eye can provide a very accurate measurement of image quality.Having the ability to measure and automatically adjust the focus ofdisplayed images can be very useful in augmented reality imaging wherethe focus distance of the displayed image can be varied in response tochanges in the environment or changes in the method of use by thewearer.

An aspect of the present invention relates to controlling the HWC 102through interpretations of eye imagery. In embodiments, eye-imagingtechnologies, such as those described herein, are used to capture an eyeimage or series of eye images for processing. The image(s) may beprocess to determine a user intended action, an HWC predeterminedreaction, or other action. For example, the imagery may be interpretedas an affirmative user control action for an application on the HWC 102.Or, the imagery may cause, for example, the HWC 102 to react in apre-determined way such that the HWC 102 is operating safely,intuitively, etc.

FIG. 37 illustrates a eye imagery process that involves imaging the HWC102 wearer's eye(s) and processing the images (e.g. through eye imagingtechnologies described herein) to determine in what position 3702 theeye is relative to it's neutral or forward looking position and/or theFOV 3708. The process may involve a calibration step where the user isinstructed, through guidance provided in the FOV of the HWC 102, to lookin certain directions such that a more accurate prediction of the eyeposition relative to areas of the FOV can be made. In the event thewearer's eye is determined to be looking towards the right side of theFOV 3708 (as illustrated in FIG. 37, the eye is looking out of the page)a virtual target line may be established to project what in theenvironment the wearer may be looking towards or at. The virtual targetline may be used in connection with an image captured by camera on theHWC 102 that images the surrounding environment in front of the wearer.In embodiments, the field of view of the camera capturing thesurrounding environment matches, or can be matched (e.g. digitally), tothe FOV 3708 such that making the comparison is made more clear. Forexample, with the camera capturing the image of the surroundings in anangle that matches the FOV 3708 the virtual line can be processed (e.g.in 2d or 3d, depending on the camera images capabilities and/or theprocessing of the images) by projecting what surrounding environmentobjects align with the virtual target line. In the event there aremultiple objects along the virtual target line, focal planes may beestablished corresponding to each of the objects such that digitalcontent may be placed in an area in the FOV 3708 that aligns with thevirtual target line and falls at a focal plane of an intersectingobject. The user then may see the digital content when he focuses on theobject in the environment, which is at the same focal plane. Inembodiments, objects in line with the virtual target line may beestablished by comparison to mapped information of the surroundings.

In embodiments, the digital content that is in line with the virtualtarget line may not be displayed in the FOV until the eye position is inthe right position. This may be a predetermined process. For example,the system may be set up such that a particular piece of digital content(e.g. an advertisement, guidance information, object information, etc.)will appear in the event that the wearer looks at a certain object(s) inthe environment. A virtual target line(s) may be developed thatvirtually connects the wearer's eye with an object(s) in the environment(e.g. a building, portion of a building, mark on a building, gpslocation, etc.) and the virtual target line may be continually updateddepending on the position and viewing direction of the wearer (e.g. asdetermined through GPS, e-compass, IMU, etc.) and the position of theobject. When the virtual target line suggests that the wearer's pupil issubstantially aligned with the virtual target line or about to bealigned with the virtual target line, the digital content may bedisplayed in the FOV 3704.

In embodiments, the time spent looking along the virtual target lineand/or a particular portion of the FOV 3708 may indicate that the weareris interested in an object in the environment and/or digital contentbeing displayed. In the event there is no digital content beingdisplayed at the time a predetermined period of time is spent looking ata direction, digital content may be presented in the area of the FOV3708. The time spent looking at an object may be interpreted as acommand to display information about the object, for example. In otherembodiments, the content may not relate to the object and may bepresented because of the indication that the person is relativelyinactive. In embodiments, the digital content may be positioned inproximity to the virtual target line, but not in-line with it such thatthe wearer's view of the surroundings are not obstructed but informationcan augment the wearer's view of the surroundings. In embodiments, thetime spent looking along a target line in the direction of displayeddigital content may be an indication of interest in the digital content.This may be used as a conversion event in advertising. For example, anadvertiser may pay more for an add placement if the wearer of the HWC102 looks at a displayed advertisement for a certain period of time. Assuch, in embodiments, the time spent looking at the advertisement, asassessed by comparing eye position with the content placement, targetline or other appropriate position may be used to determine a rate ofconversion or other compensation amount due for the presentation.

An aspect of the invention relates to removing content from the FOV ofthe HWC 102 when the wearer of the HWC 102 apparently wants to view thesurrounding environments clearly. FIG. 38 illustrates a situation whereeye imagery suggests that the eye has or is moving quickly so thedigital content 3804 in the FOV 3808 is removed from the FOV 3808. Inthis example, the wearer may be looking quickly to the side indicatingthat there is something on the side in the environment that has grabbedthe wearer's attention. This eye movement 3802 may be captured througheye imaging techniques (e.g. as described herein) and if the movementmatches a predetermined movement (e.g. speed, rate, pattern, etc.) thecontent may be removed from view. In embodiments, the eye movement isused as one input and HWC movements indicated by other sensors (e.g. IMUin the HWC) may be used as another indication. These various sensormovements may be used together to project an event that should cause achange in the content being displayed in the FOV.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to determining a focalplane based on the wearer's eye convergence. Eyes are generallyconverged slightly and converge more when the person focuses onsomething very close. This is generally referred to as convergence. Inembodiments, convergence is calibrated for the wearer. That is, thewearer may be guided through certain focal plane exercises to determinehow much the wearer's eyes converge at various focal planes and atvarious viewing angles. The convergence information may then be storedin a database for later reference. In embodiments, a general table maybe used in the event there is no calibration step or the person skipsthe calibration step. The two eyes may then be imaged periodically todetermine the convergence in an attempt to understand what focal planethe wearer is focused on. In embodiments, the eyes may be imaged todetermine a virtual target line and then the eye's convergence may bedetermined to establish the wearer's focus, and the digital content maybe displayed or altered based thereon.

FIG. 39 illustrates a situation where digital content is moved 3902within one or both of the FOVs 3908 and 3910 to align with theconvergence of the eyes as determined by the pupil movement 3904. Bymoving the digital content to maintain alignment, in embodiments, theoverlapping nature of the content is maintained so the object appearsproperly to the wearer. This can be important in situations where 3Dcontent is displayed.

An aspect of the present invention relates to controlling the HWC 102based on events detected through eye imaging. A wearer winking,blinking, moving his eyes in a certain pattern, etc. may, for example,control an application of the HWC 102. Eye imaging (e.g. as describedherein) may be used to monitor the eye(s) of the wearer and once apre-determined pattern is detected an application control command may beinitiated.

An aspect of the invention relates to monitoring the health of a personwearing a HWC 102 by monitoring the wearer's eye(s). Calibrations may bemade such that the normal performance, under various conditions (e.g.lighting conditions, image light conditions, etc.) of a wearer's eyesmay be documented. The wearer's eyes may then be monitored through eyeimaging (e.g. as described herein) for changes in their performance.Changes in performance may be indicative of a health concern (e.g.concussion, brain injury, stroke, loss of blood, etc.). If detected thedata indicative of the change or event may be communicated from the HWC102.

Aspects of the present invention relate to security and access ofcomputer assets (e.g. the HWC itself and related computer systems) asdetermined through eye image verification. As discussed hereinelsewhere, eye imagery may be compared to known person eye imagery toconfirm a person's identity. Eye imagery may also be used to confirm theidentity of people wearing the HWCs 102 before allowing them to linktogether or share files, streams, information, etc.

A variety of use cases for eye imaging are possible based ontechnologies described herein. An aspect of the present inventionrelates to the timing of eye image capture. The timing of the capture ofthe eye image and the frequency of the capture of multiple images of theeye can vary dependent on the use case for the information gathered fromthe eye image. For example, capturing an eye image to identify the userof the HWC may be required only when the HWC has been turned ON or whenthe HWC determines that the HWC has been put onto a wearer's head, tocontrol the security of the HWC and the associated information that isdisplayed to the user. Wherein, the orientation, movement pattern,stress or position of the earhorns (or other portions of the HWC) of theHWC can be used to determine that a person has put the HWC onto theirhead with the intention to use the HWC. Those same parameters may bemonitored in an effort to understand when the HWC is dismounted from theuser's head. This may enable a situation where the capture of an eyeimage for identifying the wearer may be completed only when a change inthe wearing status is identified. In a contrasting example, capturingeye images to monitor the health of the wearer may require images to becaptured periodically (e.g. every few seconds, minutes, hours, days,etc.). For example, the eye images may be taken in minute intervals whenthe images are being used to monitor the health of the wearer whendetected movements indicate that the wearer is exercising. In a furthercontrasting example, capturing eye images to monitor the health of thewearer for long-term effects may only require that eye images becaptured monthly. Embodiments of the invention relate to selection ofthe timing and rate of capture of eye images to be in correspondencewith the selected use scenario associated with the eye images. Theseselections may be done automatically, as with the exercise example abovewhere movements indicate exercise, or these selections may be setmanually. In a further embodiment, the selection of the timing and rateof eye image capture is adjusted automatically depending on the mode ofoperation of the HWC. The selection of the timing and rate of eye imagecapture can further be selected in correspondence with inputcharacteristics associated with the wearer including age and healthstatus, or sensed physical conditions of the wearer including heartrate, chemical makeup of the blood and eye blink rate.

FIG. 40 illustrates an embodiment in which digital content presented ina see-through FOV is positioned based on the speed in which the weareris moving. When the person is not moving, as measured by sensor(s) inthe HWC 102 (e.g. IMU, GPS based tracking, etc.), digital content may bepresented at the stationary person content position 4004. The contentposition 4004 is indicated as being in the middle of the see-through FOV4002; however, this is meant to illustrate that the digital content ispositioned within the see-through FOV at a place that is generallydesirable knowing that the wearer is not moving and as such the wearer'ssurrounding see through view can be somewhat obstructed. So, thestationary person content position, or neutral position, may not becentered in the see-through FOV; it may be positioned somewhere in thesee-through FOV deemed desirable and the sensor feedback may shift thedigital content from the neutral position. The movement of the digitalcontent for a quickly moving person is also shown in FIG. 40 wherein asthe person turns their head to the side, the digital content moves outof the see-through FOV to content position 4008 and then moves back asthe person turns their head back. For a slowly moving person, the headmovement can be more complex and as such the movement of the digitalcontent in an out of the see-through FOV can follow a path such as thatshown by content position 4010.

In embodiments, the sensor that assesses the wearer's movements may be aGPS sensor, IMU, accelerometer, etc. The content position may be shiftedfrom a neutral position to a position towards a side edge of the fieldof view as the forward motion increases. The content position may beshifted from a neutral position to a position towards a top or bottomedge of the field of view as the forward motion increases. The contentposition may shift based on a threshold speed of the assessed motion.The content position may shift linearly based on the speed of theforward motion. The content position may shift non-linearly based on thespeed of the forward motion. The content position may shift outside ofthe field of view. In embodiments, the content is no longer displayed ifthe speed of movement exceeds a predetermined threshold and will bedisplayed again once the forward motion slows.

In embodiments, the content position may generally be referred to asshifting; it should be understood that the term shifting encompasses aprocess where the movement from one position to another within thesee-through FOV or out of the FOV is visible to the wearer (e.g. thecontent appears to slowly or quickly move and the user perceives themovement itself) or the movement from one position to another may not bevisible to the wearer (e.g. the content appears to jump in adiscontinuous fashion or the content disappears and then reappears inthe new position).

Another aspect of the present invention relates to removing the contentfrom the field of view or shifting it to a position within the field ofview that increases the wearer's view of the surrounding environmentwhen a sensor causes an alert command to be issued. In embodiments, thealert may be due to a sensor or combination of sensors that sense acondition above a threshold value. For example, if an audio sensordetects a loud sound of a certain pitch, content in the field of viewmay be removed or shifted to provide a clear view of the surroundingenvironment for the wearer. In addition to the shifting of the content,in embodiments, an indication of why the content was shifted may bepresented in the field of view or provided through audio feedback to thewearer. For instance, if a carbon monoxide sensor detects a highconcentration in the area, content in the field of view may be shiftedto the side of the field of view or removed from the field of view andan indication may be provided to the wearer that there is a highconcentration of carbon monoxide in the area. This new information, whenpresented in the field of view, may similarly be shifted within oroutside of the field of view depending on the movement speed of thewearer.

FIG. 41 illustrates how content may be shifted from a neutral position4104 to an alert position 4108. In this embodiment, the content isshifted outside of the see-through FOV 4102. In other embodiments, thecontent may be shifted as described herein.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to identification ofvarious vectors or headings related to the HWC 102, along with sensorinputs, to determine how to position content in the field of view. Inembodiments, the speed of movement of the wearer is detected and used asan input for position of the content and, depending on the speed, thecontent may be positioned with respect to a movement vector or heading(i.e. the direction of the movement), or a sight vector or heading (i.e.the direction of the wearer's sight direction). For example, if thewearer is moving very fast the content may be positioned within thefield of view with respect to the movement vector because the wearer isonly going to be looking towards the sides of himself periodically andfor short periods of time. As another example, if the wearer is movingslowly, the content may be positioned with respect to the sight headingbecause the user may more freely be shifting his view from side to side.

FIG. 42 illustrates two examples where the movement vector may effectcontent positioning. Movement vector A 4202 is shorter than movementvector B 4210 indicating that the forward speed and/or acceleration ofmovement of the person associated with movement vector A 4202 is lowerthan the person associated with movement vector B 4210. Each person isalso indicated as having a sight vector or heading 4208 and 4212. Thesight vectors A 4208 and B 4210 are the same from a relativeperspective. The white area inside of the black triangle in front ofeach person is indicative of how much time each person likely spendslooking at a direction that is not in line with the movement vector. Thetime spent looking off angle A 4204 is indicated as being more than thatof the time spent looking off angle B 4214. This may be because themovement vector speed A is lower than movement vector speed B. Thefaster the person moves forward the more the person tends to look in theforward direction, typically. The FOVs A 4218 and B 4222 illustrate howcontent may be aligned depending on the movement vectors 4202 and 4210and sight vectors 4208 and 4212. FOV A 4218 is illustrated as presentingcontent in-line with the sight vector 4220. This may be due to the lowerspeed of the movement vector A 4202. This may also be due to theprediction of a larger amount of time spent looking off angle A 4204.FOV B 4222 is illustrated as presenting content in line with themovement vector 4224. This may be due to the higher speed of movementvector B 4210. This may also be due to the prediction of a shorteramount of time spent looking off angle B 4214.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to damping a rate ofcontent position change within the field of view. As illustrated in FIG.43, the sight vector may undergo a rapid change 4304. This rapid changemay be an isolated event or it may be made at or near a time when othersight vector changes are occurring. The wearer's head may be turningback and forth for some reason. In embodiments, the rapid successivechanges in sight vector may cause a damped rate of content positionchange 4308 within the FOV 4302. For example, the content may bepositioned with respect to the sight vector, as described herein, andthe rapid change in sight vector may normally cause a rapid contentposition change; however, since the sight vector is successivelychanging, the rate of position change with respect to the sight vectormay be damped, slowed, or stopped. The position rate change may bealtered based on the rate of change of the sight vector, average of thesight vector changes, or otherwise altered.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to simultaneouslypresenting more than one content in the field of view of a see-throughoptical system of a HWC 102 and positioning one content with the sightheading and one content with the movement heading. FIG. 44 illustratestwo FOV's A 4414 and B 4420, which correspond respectively to the twoidentified sight vectors A 4402 and B 4404. FIG. 44 also illustrates anobject in the environment 4408 at a position relative to the sightvectors A 4402 and B 4404. When the person is looking along sight vectorA 4402, the environment object 4408 can be seen through the field ofview A 4414 at position 4412. As illustrated, sight heading alignedcontent is presented as TEXT in proximity with the environment object4412. At the same time, other content 4418 is presented in the field ofview A 4414 at a position aligned in correspondence with the movementvector. As the movement speed increases, the content 4418 may shift asdescribed herein. When the sight vector of the person is sight vector B4404 the environmental object 4408 is not seen in the field of view B4420. As a result, the sight aligned content 4410 is not presented infield of view B 4420; however, the movement aligned content 4418 ispresented and is still dependent on the speed of the motion.

FIG. 45 shows an example set of data for a person moving through anenvironment over a path that starts with a movement heading of 0 degreesand ends with a movement heading of 114 degrees during which time thespeed of movement varies from 0 m/sec to 20 m/sec. The sight heading canbe seen to vary on either side of the movement heading while moving asthe person looks from side to side. Large changes in sight heading occurwhen the movement speed is 0 m/sec when the person is standing still,followed by step changes in movement heading.

Embodiments provide a process for determining the display heading thattakes into account the way a user moves through an environment andprovides a display heading that makes it easy for the user to find thedisplayed information while also providing unencumbered see-throughviews of the environment in response to different movements, speed ofmovement or different types of information being displayed.

FIG. 46 illustrates a see-through view as may be seen when using a HWCwherein information is overlaid onto a see-through view of theenvironment. The tree and the building are actually in the environmentand the text is displayed in the see-through display such that itappears overlaid on the environment. In addition to text informationsuch as, for example, instructions and weather information, someaugmented reality information is shown that relates to nearby objects inthe environment.

In an embodiment, the display heading is determined based on speed ofmovement. At low speeds, the display heading may be substantially thesame as the sight heading while at high speed the display heading may besubstantially the same as the movement heading. In embodiments, as longas the user remains stationary, the displayed information is presenteddirectly in front of the user and HWC. However, as the movement speedincreases (e.g. above a threshold or continually, etc.) the displayheading becomes substantially the same as the movement headingregardless of the direction the user is looking, so that when the userlooks in the direction of movement, the displayed information isdirectly in front of the user and HMD and when the user looks to theside the displayed information is not visible.

Rapid changes in sight heading can be followed by a slower change in thedisplay heading to provide a damped response to head rotation.Alternatively, the display heading can be substantially the timeaveraged sight heading so that the displayed information is presented ata heading that is in the middle of a series of sight headings over aperiod of time. In this embodiment, if the user stops moving their head,the display heading gradually becomes the same as the sight heading andthe displayed information moves into the display field of view in frontof the user and HMD. In embodiments, when there is a high rate of sightheading change, the process delays the effect of the time averaged sightheading on the display heading. In this way, the effect of rapid headmovements on display heading is reduced and the positioning of thedisplayed information within the display field of view is stabilizedlaterally.

In another embodiment, display heading is determined based on speed ofmovement where at high-speed, the display heading is substantially thesame as the movement heading. At mid-speed the display heading issubstantially the same as a time averaged sight heading so that rapidhead rotations are damped out and the display heading is in the middleof back and forth head movements.

In yet another embodiment, the type of information being displayed isincluded in determining how the information should be displayed.Augmented reality information that is connected to objects in theenvironment is given a display heading that substantially matches thesight heading. In this way, as the user rotates their head, augmentedreality information comes into view that is related to objects that arein the see-through view of the environment. At the same time,information that is not connected to objects in the environment is givena display heading that is determined based on the type of movements andspeed of movements as previously described in this specification.

In yet a further embodiment, when the speed of movement is determined tobe above a threshold, the information displayed is moved downward in thedisplay field of view so that the upper portion of the display field ofview has less information or no information displayed to provide theuser with an unencumbered see-through view of the environment.

FIGS. 47 and 48 show illustrations of a see-through view includingoverlaid displayed information. FIG. 47 shows the see-through viewimmediately after a rapid change in sight heading from the sight headingassociated with the see-through view shown in FIG. 46 wherein the changein sight heading comes from a head rotation. In this case, the displayheading is delayed. FIG. 48 shows how at a later time, the displayheading catches up to the sight heading. The augmented realityinformation remains in positions within the display field of view wherethe association with objects in the environment can be readily made bythe user.

FIG. 49 shows an illustration of a see-through view example includingoverlaid displayed information that has been shifted downward in thedisplay field of view to provide an unencumbered see-through view in theupper portion of the see-through view. At the same time, augmentedreality labels have been maintained in locations within the displayfield of view so they can be readily associated with objects in theenvironment.

In a further embodiment, in an operating mode such as when the user ismoving in an environment, digital content is presented at the side ofthe user's see-through FOV so that the user can only view the digitalcontent by turning their head. In this case, when the user is lookingstraight ahead, such as when the movement heading matches the sightheading, the see-through view FOV does not include digital content. Theuser then accesses the digital content by turning their head to the sidewhereupon the digital content moves laterally into the user'ssee-through FOV. In another embodiment, the digital content is ready forpresentation and will be presented if an indication for it'spresentation is received. For example, the information may be ready forpresentation and if the sight heading or predetermined position of theHWC 102 is achieved the content may then be presented. The wearer maylook to the side and the content may be presented. In anotherembodiment, the user may cause the content to move into an area in thefield of view by looking in a direction for a predetermined period oftime, blinking, winking, or displaying some other pattern that can becaptured through eye imaging technologies (e.g. as described hereinelsewhere).

In yet another embodiment, an operating mode is provided wherein theuser can define sight headings wherein the associated see-through FOVincludes digital content or does not include digital content. In anexample, this operating mode can be used in an office environment wherewhen the user is looking at a wall digital content is provided withinthe FOV, whereas when the user is looking toward a hallway, the FOV isunencumbered by digital content. In another example, when the user islooking horizontally digital content is provided within the FOV, butwhen the user looks down (e.g. to look at a desktop or a cellphone) thedigital content is removed from the FOV.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to collecting and usingeye position and sight heading information. Head worn computing withmotion heading, sight heading, and/or eye position prediction (sometimesreferred to as “eye heading” herein) may be used to identify what awearer of the HWC 102 is apparently interested in and the informationmay be captured and used. In embodiments, the information may becharacterized as viewing information because the information apparentlyrelates to what the wearer is looking at. The viewing information may beused to develop a personal profile for the wearer, which may indicatewhat the wearer tends to look at. The viewing information from severalor many HWC's 102 may be captured such that group or crowd viewingtrends may be established. For example, if the movement heading andsight heading are known, a prediction of what the wearer is looking atmay be made and used to generate a personal profile or portion of acrowd profile. In another embodiment, if the eye heading and location,sight heading and/or movement heading are known, a prediction of what isbeing looked at may be predicted. The prediction may involveunderstanding what is in proximity of the wearer and this may beunderstood by establishing the position of the wearer (e.g. through GPSor other location technology) and establishing what mapped objects areknown in the area. The prediction may involve interpreting imagescaptured by the camera or other sensors associated with the HWC 102. Forexample, if the camera captures an image of a sign and the camera isin-line with the sight heading, the prediction may involve assessing thelikelihood that the wearer is viewing the sign. The prediction mayinvolve capturing an image or other sensory information and thenperforming object recognition analysis to determine what is beingviewed. For example, the wearer may be walking down a street and thecamera that is in the HWC 102 may capture an image and a processor,either on-board or remote from the HWC 102, may recognize a face,object, marker, image, etc. and it may be determined that the wearer mayhave been looking at it or towards it.

FIG. 50 illustrates a cross section of an eyeball of a wearer of an HWCwith focus points that can be associated with the eye imaging system ofthe invention. The eyeball 5010 includes an iris 5012 and a retina 5014.Because the eye imaging system of the invention provides coaxial eyeimaging with a display system, images of the eye can be captured from aperspective directly in front of the eye and inline with where thewearer is looking. In embodiments of the invention, the eye imagingsystem can be focused at the iris 5012 and/or the retina 5014 of thewearer, to capture images of the external surface of the iris 5012 orthe internal portions of the eye, which includes the retina 5014. FIG.50 shows light rays 5020 and 5025 that are respectively associated withcapturing images of the iris 5012 or the retina 5014 wherein the opticsassociated with the eye imaging system are respectively focused at theiris 5012 or the retina 5014. Illuminating light can also be provided inthe eye imaging system to illuminate the iris 5012 or the retina 5014.FIG. 51 shows an illustration of an eye including an iris 5130 and asclera 5125. In embodiments, the eye imaging system can be used tocapture images that include the iris 5130 and portions the sclera 5125.The images can then be analyzed to determine color, shapes and patternsthat are associated with the user. In further embodiments, the focus ofthe eye imaging system is adjusted to enable images to be captured ofthe iris 5012 or the retina 5014. Illuminating light can also beadjusted to illuminate the iris 5012 or to pass through the pupil of theeye to illuminate the retina 5014. The illuminating light can be visiblelight to enable capture of colors of the iris 5012 or the retina 5014,or the illuminating light can be ultraviolet (e.g. 340 nm), nearinfrared (e.g. 850 nm) or mid-wave infrared (e.g. 5000 nm) light toenable capture of hyperspectral characteristics of the eye.

FIG. 53 illustrates a display system that includes an eye imagingsystem. The display system includes a polarized light source 2958, a DLP2955, a quarter wave film 2957 and a beam splitter plate 5345. The eyeimaging system includes a camera 3280, illuminating lights 5355 and beamsplitter plate 5345. Where the beam splitter plate 5345 can be areflective polarizer on the side facing the polarized light source 2958and a hot mirror on the side facing the camera 3280. Wherein the hotmirror reflects infrared light (e.g. wavelengths 700 to 2000 nm) andtransmits visible light (e.g. wavelengths 400 to 670 nm). The beamsplitter plate 5345 can be comprised of multiple laminated films, asubstrate film with coatings or a rigid transparent substrate with filmson either side. By providing a reflective polarizer on the one side, thelight from the polarized light source 2958 is reflected toward the DLP2955 where it passes through the quarter wave film 2957 once, isreflected by the DLP mirrors in correspondence with the image contentbeing displayed by the DLP 2955 and then passes back through the quarterwave film 2957. In so doing, the polarization state of the light fromthe polarized light source is changed, so that it is transmitted by thereflective polarizer on the beam splitter plate 5345 and the image light2971 passes into the lower optics module 204 where the image isdisplayed to the user. At the same time, infrared light 5357 from theilluminating lights 5355 is reflected by the hot mirror so that itpasses into the lower optics module 204 where it illuminates the user'seye. Portions of the infrared light 2969 are reflected by the user's eyeand this light passes back through the lower optics module 204, isreflected by the hot mirror on the beam splitter plate 5345 and iscaptured by the camera 3280. In this embodiment, the image light 2971 ispolarized while the infrared light 5357 and 2969 can be unpolarized. Inan embodiment, the illuminating lights 5355 provide two differentinfrared wavelengths and eye images are captured in pairs, wherein thepairs of eye images are analyzed together to improve the accuracy ofidentification of the user based on iris analysis.

FIG. 54 shows an illustration of a further embodiment of a displaysystem with an eye imaging system. In addition to the features of FIG.53, this system includes a second camera 5460. Wherein the second camera5460 is provided to capture eye images in the visible wavelengths.Illumination of the eye can be provided by the displayed image or bysee-through light from the environment. Portions of the displayed imagecan be modified to provide improved illumination of the user's eye whenimages of the eye are to be captured such as by increasing thebrightness of the displayed image or increasing the white areas withinthe displayed image. Further, modified displayed images can be presentedbriefly for the purpose of capturing eye images and the display of themodified images can be synchronized with the capture of the eye images.As shown in FIG. 54, visible light 5467 is polarized when it is capturedby the second camera 5460 since it passes through the beam splitter 5445and the beam splitter 5445 is a reflective polarizer on the side facingthe second camera 5460. In this eye imaging system, visible eye imagescan be captured by the second camera 5460 at the same time that infraredeye images are captured by the camera 3280. Wherein, the characteristicsof the camera 3280 and the second camera 5460 and the associatedrespective images captured can be different in terms of resolution andcapture rate.

FIGS. 52 a and 52 b illustrate captured images of eyes where the eyesare illuminated with structured light patterns. In FIG. 52 a, an eye5220 is shown with a projected structured light pattern 5230, where thelight pattern is a grid of lines. A light pattern of such as 5230 can beprovided by the light source 5355 show in FIG. 53 by including adiffractive or a refractive device to modify the light 5357 as are knownby those skilled in the art. A visible light source can also be includedfor the second camera 5460 shown in FIG. 54 which can include adiffractive or refractive to modify the light 5467 to provide a lightpattern. FIG. 52 b illustrates how the structured light pattern of 5230becomes distorted to 5235 when the user's eye 5225 looks to the side.This distortion comes from the fact that the human eye is not sphericalin shape, instead the iris sticks out slightly from the eyeball to forma bump in the area of the iris. As a result, the shape of the eye andthe associated shape of the reflected structured light pattern isdifferent depending on which direction the eye is pointed, when imagesof the eye are captured from a fixed position. Changes in the structuredlight pattern can subsequently be analyzed in captured eye images todetermine the direction that the eye is looking.

The eye imaging system can also be used for the assessment of aspects ofhealth of the user. In this case, information gained from analyzingcaptured images of the iris 5012 is different from information gainedfrom analyzing captured images of the retina 5014. Where images of theretina 5014 are captured using light 5357 that illuminates the innerportions of the eye including the retina 5014. The light 5357 can bevisible light, but in an embodiment, the light 5357 is infrared light(e.g. wavelength 1 to 5 microns) and the camera 3280 is an infraredlight sensor (e.g. an InGaAs sensor) or a low resolution infrared imagesensor that is used to determine the relative amount of light 5357 thatis absorbed, reflected or scattered by the inner portions of the eye.Wherein the majority of the light that is absorbed, reflected orscattered can be attributed to materials in the inner portion of the eyeincluding the retina where there are densely packed blood vessels withthin walls so that the absorption, reflection and scattering are causedby the material makeup of the blood. These measurements can be conductedautomatically when the user is wearing the HWC, either at regularintervals, after identified events or when prompted by an externalcommunication. In a preferred embodiment, the illuminating light is nearinfrared or mid infrared (e.g. 0.7 to 5 microns wavelength) to reducethe chance for thermal damage to the wearer's eye. In anotherembodiment, the polarizer 3285 is antireflection coated to reduce anyreflections from this surface from the light 5357, the light 2969 or thelight 3275 and thereby increase the sensitivity of the camera 3280. In afurther embodiment, the light source 5355 and the camera 3280 togethercomprise a spectrometer wherein the relative intensity of the lightreflected by the eye is analyzed over a series of narrow wavelengthswithin the range of wavelengths provided by the light source 5355 todetermine a characteristic spectrum of the light that is absorbed,reflected or scattered by the eye. For example, the light source 5355can provide a broad range of infrared light to illuminate the eye andthe camera 3280 can include: a grating to laterally disperse thereflected light from the eye into a series of narrow wavelength bandsthat are captured by a linear photodetector so that the relativeintensity by wavelength can be measured and a characteristic absorbancespectrum for the eye can be determined over the broad range of infrared.In a further example, the light source 5355 can provide a series ofnarrow wavelengths of light (ultraviolet, visible or infrared) tosequentially illuminate the eye and camera 3280 includes a photodetectorthat is selected to measure the relative intensity of the series ofnarrow wavelengths in a series of sequential measurements that togethercan be used to determine a characteristic spectrum of the eye. Thedetermined characteristic spectrum is then compared to knowncharacteristic spectra for different materials to determine the materialmakeup of the eye. In yet another embodiment, the illuminating light5357 is focused on the retina 5014 and a characteristic spectrum of theretina 5014 is determined and the spectrum is compared to known spectrafor materials that may be present in the user's blood. For example, inthe visible wavelengths 540 nm is useful for detecting hemoglobin and660 nm is useful for differentiating oxygenated hemoglobin. In a furtherexample, in the infrared, a wide variety of materials can be identifiedas is known by those skilled in the art, including: glucose, urea,alcohol and controlled substances. FIG. 55 shows a series of examplespectrum for a variety of controlled substances as measured using a formof infrared spectroscopy (ThermoScientific Application Note 51242, by C.Petty, B. Garland and the Mesa Police Department Forensic Laboratory,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein). FIG. 56 shows aninfrared absorbance spectrum for glucose (Hewlett Packard Company 1999,G. Hopkins, G. Mauze; “In-vivo NIR Diffuse-reflectance TissueSpectroscopy of Human Subjects,” which is hereby incorporated byreference herein). U.S. Pat. No. 6,675,030, which is hereby incorporatedby reference herein, provides a near infrared blood glucose monitoringsystem that includes infrared scans of a body part such as a foot.United States Patent publication 2006/0183986, which is herebyincorporated by reference herein, provides a blood glucose monitoringsystem including a light measurement of the retina. Embodiments of thepresent invention provide methods for automatic measurements of specificmaterials in the user's blood by illuminating at one or more narrowwavelengths into the iris of the wearer's eye and measuring the relativeintensity of the light reflected by the eye to identify the relativeabsorbance spectrum and comparing the measured absorbance spectrum withknown absorbance spectra for the specific material, such as illuminatingat 540 and 660 nm to determine the level of hemoglobin present in theuser's blood.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to collecting and usingeye position and sight heading information. Head worn computing withmotion heading, sight heading, and/or eye position prediction (sometimesreferred to as “eye heading” herein) may be used to identify what awearer of the HWC 102 is apparently interested in and the informationmay be captured and used. In embodiments, the information may becharacterized as viewing information because the information apparentlyrelates to what the wearer is looking at. The viewing information may beused to develop a personal profile for the wearer, which may indicatewhat the wearer tends to look at. The viewing information from severalor many HWC's 102 may be captured such that group or crowd viewingtrends may be established. For example, if the movement heading andsight heading are known, a prediction of what the wearer is looking atmay be made and used to generate a personal profile or portion of acrowd profile. In another embodiment, if the eye heading and location,sight heading and/or movement heading are known, a prediction of what isbeing looked at may be predicted. The prediction may involveunderstanding what is in proximity of the wearer and this may beunderstood by establishing the position of the wearer (e.g. through GPSor other location technology) and establishing what mapped objects areknown in the area. The prediction may involve interpreting imagescaptured by the camera or other sensors associated with the HWC 102. Forexample, if the camera captures an image of a sign and the camera isin-line with the sight heading, the prediction may involve assessing thelikelihood that the wearer is viewing the sign. The prediction mayinvolve capturing an image or other sensory information and thenperforming object recognition analysis to determine what is beingviewed. For example, the wearer may be walking down a street and thecamera that is in the HWC 102 may capture an image and a processor,either on-board or remote from the HWC 102, may recognize a face,object, marker, image, etc. and it may be determined that the wearer mayhave been looking at it or towards it.

FIG. 57 illustrates a scene where a person is walking with a HWC 102mounted on his head. In this scene, the person's geo-spatial location5704 is known through a GPS sensor, which could be another locationsystem, and his movement heading, sight heading 5714 and eye heading5702 are known and can be recorded (e.g. through systems describedherein). There are objects and a person in the scene. Person 5712 may berecognized by the wearer's HWC 102 system, the person may be mapped(e.g. the person's GPS location may be known or recognized), orotherwise known. The person may be wearing a garment or device that isrecognizable. For example, the garment may be of a certain style and theHWC may recognize the style and record it's viewing. The scene alsoincludes a mapped object 5718 and a recognized object 5720. As thewearer moves through the scene, the sight and/or eye headings may berecorded and communicated from the HWC 102. In embodiments, the timethat the sight and/or eye heading maintains a particular position may berecorded. For example, if a person appears to look at an object orperson for a predetermined period of time (e.g. 2 seconds or longer),the information may be communicated as gaze persistence information asan indication that the person may have been interested in the object.

In embodiments, sight headings may be used in conjunction with eyeheadings or eye and/or sight headings may be used alone. Sight headingscan do a good job of predicting what direction a wearer is lookingbecause many times the eyes are looking forward, in the same generaldirection as the sight heading. In other situations, eye headings may bea more desirable metric because the eye and sight headings are notalways aligned. In embodiments herein examples may be provided with theterm “eye/sight” heading, which indicates that either or both eyeheading and sight heading may be used in the example.

FIG. 58 illustrates a system for receiving, developing and usingmovement heading, sight heading, eye heading and/or persistenceinformation from HWC(s) 102. The server 5804 may receive heading or gazepersistence information, which is noted as persistence information 5802,for processing and/or use. The heading and/or gaze persistenceinformation may be used to generate a personal profile 5808 and/or agroup profile 5810. The personal profile 5718 may reflect the wearer'sgeneral viewing tendencies and interests. The group profile 5810 may bean assemblage of different wearer's heading and persistence informationto create impressions of general group viewing tendencies and interests.The group profile 5810 may be broken into different groups based onother information such as gender, likes, dislikes, biographicalinformation, etc. such that certain groups can be distinguished fromother groups. This may be useful in advertising because an advertisermay be interested in what a male adult sports go′er is generally lookingat as oppose to a younger female. The profiles 5808 and 5810 and rawheading and persistence information may be used by retailers 5814,advertisers 5818, trainers, etc. For example, an advertiser may have anadvertisement posted in an environment and may be interested in knowinghow many people look at the advertisement, how long they look at it andwhere they go after looking at it. This information may be used asconversion information to assess the value of the advertisement and thusthe payment to be received for the advertisement.

In embodiments, the process involves collecting eye and/or sight headinginformation from a plurality of head-worn computers that come intoproximity with an object in an environment. For example, a number ofpeople may be walking through an area and each of the people may bewearing a head worn computer with the ability to track the position ofthe wearer's eye(s) as well as possibly the wearer's sight and movementheadings. The various HWC wearing individuals may then walk, ride, orotherwise come into proximity with some object in the environment (e.g.a store, sign, person, vehicle, box, bag, etc.). When each person passesby or otherwise comes near the object, the eye imaging system maydetermine if the person is looking towards the object. All of theeye/sight heading information may be collected and used to formimpressions of how the crowd reacted to the object. A store may berunning a sale and so the store may put out a sign indicating such. Thestoreowners and managers may be very interested to know if anyone islooking at their sign. The sign may be set as the object of interest inthe area and as people navigate near the sign, possibly determined bytheir GPS locations, the eye/sight heading determination system mayrecord information relative to the environment and the sign. Once, oras, the eye/sight heading information is collected and associationsbetween the eye headings and the sign are determined, feedback may besent back to the storeowner, managers, advertiser, etc. as an indicationof how well their sign is attracting people. In embodiments, the sign'seffectiveness at attracting people's attention, as indicated through theeye/sight headings, may be considered a conversion metric and impact theeconomic value of the sign and/or the signs placement.

In embodiments, a map of the environment with the object may begenerated by mapping the locations and movement paths of the people inthe crowd as they navigate by the object (e.g. the sign). Layered onthis map may be an indication of the various eye/sight headings. Thismay be useful in indicating wear people were in relation to the objectwhen then viewed they object. The map may also have an indication of howlong people looked at the object from the various positions in theenvironment and where they went after seeing the object.

In embodiments, the process involves collecting a plurality of eye/sightheadings from a head-worn computer, wherein each of the plurality ofeye/sight headings is associated with a different pre-determined objectin an environment. This technology may be used to determine which of thedifferent objects attracts more of the person's attention. For example,if there are three objects placed in an environment and a person entersthe environment navigating his way through it, he may look at one ormore of the objects and his eye/sight heading may persist on one or moreobjects longer than others. This may be used in making or refining theperson's personal attention profile and/or it may be used in connectionwith other such people's data on the same or similar objects todetermine an impression of how the population or crowd reacts to theobjects. Testing advertisements in this way may provide good feedback ofits effectiveness.

In embodiments, the process may involve capturing eye/sight headingsonce there is substantial alignment between the eye/sight heading and anobject of interest. For example, the person with the HWC may benavigating through an environment and once the HWC detects substantialalignment or the projected occurrence of an upcoming substantialalignment between the eye/sight heading and the object of interest, theoccurrence and/or persistence may be recorded for use.

In embodiments, the process may involve collecting eye/sight headinginformation from a head-worn computer and collecting a captured imagefrom the head-worn computer that was taken at substantially the sametime as the eye/sight heading information was captured. These two piecesof information may be used in conjunction to gain an understanding ofwhat the wearer was looking at and possibly interested in. The processmay further involve associating the eye/sight heading information withan object, person, or other thing found in the captured image. This mayinvolve processing the captured image looking for objects or patterns.In embodiments, gaze time or persistence may be measured and used inconjunction with the image processing. The process may still involveobject and/or pattern recognition, but it may also involve attempting toidentify what the person gazed at for the period of time by moreparticularly identifying a portion of the image in conjunction withimage processing.

In embodiments, the process may involve setting a pre-determinedeye/sight heading from a pre-determined geospatial location and usingthem as triggers. In the event that a head worn computer enters thegeospatial location and an eye/sight heading associated with the headworn computer aligns with the pre-determined eye/sight heading, thesystem may collect the fact that there was an apparent alignment and/orthe system may record information identifying how long the eye/sightheading remains substantially aligned with the pre-determined eye/sightheading to form a persistence statistic. This may eliminate or reducethe need for image processing as the triggers can be used without havingto image the area. In other embodiments, image capture and processing isperformed in conjunction with the triggers. In embodiments, the triggersmay be a series a geospatial locations with corresponding eye/sightheadings such that many spots can be used as triggers that indicate whena person entered an area in proximity to an object of interest and/orwhen that person actually appeared to look at the object.

In embodiments, eye imaging may be used to capture images of both eyesof the wearer in order to determine the amount of convergence of theeyes (e.g. through technologies described herein elsewhere) to get anunderstanding of what focal plane is being concentrated on by thewearer. For example, if the convergence measurement suggests that thefocal plane is within 15 feet of the wearer, than, even though theeye/sight headings may align with an object that is more than 15 feetaway it may be determined that the wearer was not looking at the object.If the object were within the 15 foot suggested focal plane, thedetermination may be that the wearer was looking at the object. FIG. 59illustrates an environmentally position locked digital content 5912 thatis indicative of a person's location 5902. In this disclosure the term“BlueForce” is generally used to indicate team members or members forwhich geo-spatial locations are known and can be used. In embodiments,“BlueForce” is a term to indicate members of a tactical arms team (e.g.a police force, secret service force, security force, military force,national security force, intelligence force, etc.). In many embodimentsherein one member may be referred to as the primary or first BlueForcemember and it is this member, in many described embodiments, that iswearing the HWC. It should be understood that this terminology is tohelp the reader and make for clear presentations of the varioussituations and that other members of the Blueforce, or other people, mayhave HWC's 102 and have similar capabilities. In this embodiment, afirst person is wearing a head-worn computer 102 that has a see throughfield of view (“FOV”) 5914. The first person can see through the FOV toview the surrounding environment through the FOV and digital content canalso be presented in the FOV such that the first person can view theactual surroundings, through the FOV, in a digitally augmented view. Theother BlueForce person's location is known and is indicated at aposition inside of a building at point 5902. This location is known inthree dimensions, longitude, latitude and altitude, which may have beendetermined by GPS along with an altimeter associated with the otherBlueforce person. Similarly, the location of the first person wearingthe HWC 102 is also known, as indicated in FIG. 59 as point 5908. Inthis embodiment, the compass heading 5910 of the first person is alsoknown. With the compass heading 5910 known, the angle in which the firstperson is viewing the surroundings can be estimated. A virtual targetline between the location of the first person 5908 and the otherperson's location 5902 can be established in three dimensional space andemanating from the HWC 102 proximate the FOV 5914. The threedimensionally oriented virtual target line can then be used to presentenvironmentally position locked digital content in the FOV 5914, whichis indicative of the other person's location 5902. The environmentallyposition locked digital content 5902 can be positioned within the FOV5914 such that the first person, who is wearing the HWC 102, perceivesthe content 5902 as locked in position within the environment andmarking the location of the other person 5902.

The three dimensionally positioned virtual target line can berecalculated periodically (e.g. every millisecond, second, minute, etc.)to reposition the environmentally position locked content 5912 to remainin-line with the virtual target line. This can create the illusion thatthe content 5912 is staying positioned within the environment at a pointthat is associated with the other person's location 5902 independent ofthe location of the first person 5908 wearing the HWC 102 andindependent of the compass heading of the HWC 102.

In embodiments, the environmentally locked digital content 5912 may bepositioned with an object 5904 that is between the first person'slocation 5908 and the other person's location 5902. The virtual targetline may intersect the object 5904 before intersecting with the otherperson's location 5902. In embodiments, the environmentally lockeddigital content 5912 may be associated with the object intersectionpoint 5904. In embodiments, the intersecting object 5904 may beidentified by comparing the two person's locations 5902 and 5908 withobstructions identified on a map. In embodiments the intersecting object5904 may be identified by processing images captured from a camera, orother sensor, associated with the HWC 102. In embodiments, the digitalcontent 5912 has an appearance that is indicative of being at thelocation of the other person 5902, at the location of the intersectingobject 5904 to provide a more clear indication of the position of theother person's position 5902 in the FOV 5914.

FIG. 60 illustrates how and where digital content may be positionedwithin the FOV 6008 based on a virtual target line between the locationof the first person 5908, who's wearing the HWC 102, and the otherperson 5902. In addition to positioning the content in a position withinthe FOV 6008 that is in-line with the virtual target line, the digitalcontent may be presented such that it comes into focus by the firstperson when the first person focuses at a certain plane or distance inthe environment. Presented object A 6018 is digitally generated contentthat is presented as an image at content position A 6012. The position6012 is based on the virtual target line. The presented object A 6018 ispresented not only along the virtual target line but also at a focalplane B 6014 such that the content at position A 6012 in the FOV 6008comes into focus by the first person when the first person's eye 6002focuses at something in the surrounding environment at the focal plane B6014 distance. Setting the focal plane of the presented content providescontent that does not come into focus until the eye 6002 focuses at theset focal plane. In embodiments, this allows the content at position Ato be presented without when the HWC's compass is indicative of thefirst person looking in the direction of the other person 5902 but itwill only come into focus when the first person focuses on in thedirection of the other person 5902 and at the focal plane of the otherperson 5902.

Presented object B 6020 is aligned with a different virtual target linethen presented object A 6018. Presented object B 6020 is also presentedat content position B 6004 at a different focal plane than the contentposition A 6012. Presented content B 6020 is presented at a furtherfocal plane, which is indicative that the other person 5902 isphysically located at a further distance. If the focal planes aresufficiently different, the content at position A will come into focusat a different time than the content at position B because the two focalplanes require different focus from the eye 6002.

FIG. 61 illustrates several BlueForce members at locations with variouspoints of view from the first person's perspective. In embodiments, therelative positions, distances and obstacles may cause the digitalcontent indicative of the other person's location to be altered. Forexample, if the other person can be seen by the first person through thefirst person's FOV, the digital content may be locked at the location ofthe other person and the digital content may be of a type that indicatesthe other person's position is being actively marked and tracked. If theother person is in relatively close proximity, but cannot be seen by thefirst person, the digital content may be locked to an intersectingobject or area and the digital content may indicate that the actuallocation of the other person cannot be seen but the mark is generallytracking the other persons general position. If the other person is notwithin a pre-determined proximity or is otherwise more significantlyobscured from the first person's view, the digital content may generallyindicate a direction or area where the other person is located and thedigital content may indicate that the other person's location is notclosely identified or tracked by the digital content, but that the otherperson is in the general area.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 61, several BlueForce members are presentedat various positions within an area where the first person is located.The primary BlueForce member 6102 (also referred to generally as thefirst person, or the person wherein the HWC with the FOV for examplepurposes) can directly see the BlueForce member in the open field 6104.In embodiments, the digital content provided in the FOV of the primaryBlueForce member may be based on a virtual target line and virtuallylocked in an environment position that is indicative of the open fieldposition of the BlueForce member 6104. The digital content may alsoindicate that the location of the open field BlueForce member is markedand is being tracked. The digital content may change forms if theBlueForce member becomes obscured from the vision of the primaryBlueForce member or otherwise becomes unavailable for direct viewing.

BlueForce member 6108 is obscured from the primary BlueForce member's6102 view by an obstacle that is in close proximity to the obscuredmember 6108. As depicted, the obscured member 6108 is in a building butclose to one of the front walls. In this situation, the digital contentprovided in the FOV of the primary member 6102 may be indicative of thegeneral position of the obscured member 6108 and the digital content mayindicate that, while the other person's location is fairly well marked,it is obscured so it is not as precise as if the person was in directview. In addition, the digital content may be virtually positionallylocked to some feature on the outside of the building that the obscuredmember is in. This may make the environmental locking more stable andalso provide an indication that the location of the person is somewhatunknown.

BlueForce member 6110 is obscured by multiple obstacles. The member 6110is in a building and there is another building 6112 in between theprimary member 6102 and the obscured member 6110. In this situation, thedigital content in the FOV of the primary member will be spatially quiteshort of the actual obscured member and as such the digital content mayneed to be presented in a way that indicates that the obscured member6110 is in a general direction but that the digital marker is not areliable source of information for the particular location of obscuredmember 6110.

FIG. 62 illustrates yet another method for positioning digital contentwithin the FOV of a HWC where the digital content is intended toindicate a position of another person. This embodiment is similar to theembodiment described in connection with FIG. 62 herein. The mainadditional element in this embodiment is the additional step ofverifying the distance between the first person 5908, the one wearingthe HWC with the FOV digital content presentation of location, and theother person at location 5902. Here, the range finder may be included inthe HWC and measure a distance at an angle that is represented by thevirtual target line. In the event that the range finder finds an objectobstructing the path of the virtual target line, the digital contentpresentation in the FOV may indicate such (e.g. as described hereinelsewhere). In the event that the range finder confirms that there is aperson or object at the end of the prescribed distance and angle definedby the virtual target line, the digital content may represent that theproper location has been marked, as described herein elsewhere.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to predicting themovement of BlueForce members to maintain proper virtual marking of theBlueForce member locations. FIG. 63 illustrates a situation where theprimary BlueForce member 6302 is tracking the locations of the otherBlueForce members through an augmented environment using a HWC 102, asdescribed herein elsewhere (e.g. as described in connection with theabove figures). The primary BlueForce member 6302 may have knowledge ofthe tactical movement plan 6308. The tactical movement plan maybemaintained locally (e.g. on the HWCs 102 with sharing of the planbetween the BlueForce members) or remotely (e.g. on a server andcommunicated to the HWC's 102, or communicated to a subset of HWC's 102for HWC 102 sharing). In this case, the tactical plan involves theBlueForce group generally moving in the direction of the arrow 6308. Thetactical plan may influence the presentations of digital content in theFOV of the HWC 102 of the primary BlueForce member. For example, thetactical plan may assist in the prediction of the location of the otherBlueForce member and the virtual target line may be adjustedaccordingly. In embodiments, the area in the tactical movement plan maybe shaded or colored or otherwise marked with digital content in the FOVsuch that the primary BlueForce member can manage his activities withrespect to the tactical plan. For example, he may be made aware that oneor more BlueForce members are moving towards the tactical path 6308. Hemay also be made aware of movements in the tactical path that do notappear associated with BlueForce members.

FIG. 63 also illustrates that internal IMU sensors in the HWCs worn bythe BlueForce members may provide guidance on the movement of themembers 6304. This may be helpful in identifying when a GPS locationshould be updated and hence updating the position of the virtual markerin the FOV. This may also be helpful in assessing the validity of theGPS location. For example, if the GPS location has not updated but thereis significant IMU sensor activity, the system may call into questionthe accuracy of the identified location. The IMU information may also beuseful to help track the position of a member in the event the GPSinformation is unavailable. For example, dead reckoning may be used ifthe GPS signal is lost and the virtual marker in the FOV may indicateboth indicated movements of the team member and indicate that thelocation identification is not ideal. The current tactical plan 6308 maybe updated periodically and the updated plans may further refine what ispresented in the FOV of the HWC 102.

FIG. 64 illustrates a BlueForce tracking system in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention. In embodiments, the BlueForce HWC's102 may have directional antenna's that emit relatively low powerdirectional RF signals such that other BlueForce members within therange of the relatively low power signal can receive and assess it'sdirection and/or distance based on the strength and varying strength ofthe signals. In embodiments, the tracking of such RF signals can be usedto alter the presentation of the virtual markers of persons locationswithin the FOV of HWC 102.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to monitoring the healthof BlueForce members. Each BlueForce member may be automaticallymonitored for health and stress events. For example, the members mayhave a watchband as described herein elsewhere or other wearablebiometric monitoring device and the device may continually monitor thebiometric information and predict health concerns or stress events. Asanother example, the eye imaging systems described herein elsewhere maybe used to monitor pupil dilatations as compared to normal conditions topredict head trauma. Each eye may be imaged to check for differences inpupil dilation for indications of head trauma. As another example, anIMU in the HWC 102 may monitor a person's walking gate looking forchanges in pattern, which may be an indication of head or other trauma.Biometric feedback from a member indicative of a health or stressconcern may be uploaded to a server for sharing with other members orthe information may be shared with local members, for example. Onceshared, the digital content in the FOF that indicates the location ofthe person having the health or stress event may include an indicationof the health event.

FIG. 65 illustrates a situation where the primary BlueForce member 6502is monitoring the location of the BlueForce member 6504 that has had aheath event and caused a health alert to be transmitted from the HWC102. As described herein elsewhere, the FOV of the HWC 102 of theprimary BlueForce member may include an indication of the location ofthe BlueForce member with the health concern 6504. The digital contentin the FOV may also include an indication of the health condition inassociation with the location indication. In embodiments, non-biometricsensors (e.g. IMU, camera, ranger finder, accelerometer, altimeter,etc.) may be used to provide health and/or situational conditions to theBlueForce team or other local or remote persons interested in theinformation. For example, if one of the BlueForce members is detected asquickly hitting the ground from a standing position an alter may be sentas an indication of a fall, the person is in trouble and had to dropdown, was shot, etc.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to virtually markingvarious prior acts and events. For example, as depicted in FIG. 66, thetechniques described herein elsewhere may be used to construct a virtualprior movement path 6604 of a BlueForce member. The virtual path may bedisplayed as digital content in the FOV of the primary BlueForce member6602 using methods described herein elsewhere. As the BlueForce membermoved along the path 6604 he may have virtually placed an event marker6608 such that when another member views the location the mark can bedisplayed as digital content. For example, the BlueForce member mayinspect and clear an area and then use an external user interface orgesture to indicate that the area has been cleared and then the locationwould be virtually marked and shared with BlueForce members. Then, whensomeone wants to understand if the location was inspected he can viewthe location's information. As indicated herein elsewhere, if thelocation is visible to the member, the digital content may be displayedin a way that indicates the specific location and if the location is notvisible from the person's perspective, the digital content may besomewhat different in that it may not specifically mark the location.

Turning back to optical configurations, another aspect of the presentinvention relates to an optical configuration that provides digitallydisplayed content to an eye of a person wearing a head-worn display(e.g. as used in a HWC 102) and allows the person to see through thedisplay such that the digital content is perceived by the person asaugmenting the see through view of the surrounding environment. Theoptical configuration may have a variable transmission optical elementthat is in-line with the person's see-through view such that thetransmission of the see-through view can be increased and decreased.This may be helpful in situations where a person wants or would bebetter served with a high transmission see-through view and when, in thesame HWC 102, the person wants or would be better served with lesssee-through transmission. The lower see-through transmission may be usedin bright conditions and/or in conditions where higher contrast for thedigitally presented content is desirable. The optical system may alsohave a camera that images the surrounding environment by receivingreflected light from the surrounding environment off of an opticalelement that is in-line with the person's see-through view of thesurrounding. In embodiments, the camera may further be aligned in a darklight trap such that light reflected and/or transmitted in the directionof the camera that is not captured by the camera is trapped to reducestray light.

In embodiments, a HWC 102 is provided that includes a camera that iscoaxially aligned with the direction that the user is looking. FIG. 67shows an illustration of an optical system 6715 that includes anabsorptive polarizer 6737 and a camera 6739. The image source 6710 caninclude light sources, displays and reflective surfaces as well as oneor more lenses 6720. Image light 6750 is provided by the image source6710 wherein, a portion of the image light 6750 is reflected toward theuser's eye 6730 by a partially reflective combiner 6735. At the sametime, a portion of the image light 6750 may be transmitted by thecombiner 6735 such that it is incident onto the absorptive polarizer6737. In this embodiment, the image light 6750 is polarized light withthe polarization state of the image light 6750 oriented relative to thetransmission axis of the absorptive polarizer 6737 such that theincident image light 6750 is absorbed by the absorptive polarizer 6737.In this way, faceglow produced by escaping image light 6750 is reduced.In embodiments, the absorptive polarizer 6737 includes an antireflectioncoating to reduce reflections from the surface of the absorptivepolarizer 6737.

FIG. 67 further shows a camera 6739 for capturing images of theenvironment in the direction that the user is looking. The camera 6739is positioned behind the absorptive polarizer 6737 and below thecombiner 6735 so that a portion of light from the environment 6770 isreflected by the combiner 6735 toward the camera 6739. Light from theenvironment 6770 can be unpolarized so that a portion of the light fromthe environment 6770 that is reflected by the combiner 6735 passesthrough the absorptive polarizer 6737 and it is this light that iscaptured by the camera 6739. As a result, the light captured by thecamera will have a polarization state that is opposite that of the imagelight 6750. In addition, the camera 6739 is aligned relative to thecombiner 6735 such that the field of view associated with the camera6739 is coaxial to the display field of view provided by image light6750. At the same time, a portion of scene light 6760 from theenvironment is transmitted by the combiner 6735 to provide a see-throughview of the environment to the user's eye 6730. Where the display fieldof view associated with the image light 6750 is typically coincident tothe see-through field of view associated with the scene light 6760 andthereby the see through field of view and the field of view of thecamera 6739 are at least partially coaxial. By attaching the camera 6739to the lower portion of the optical system 6715, the field of view ofthe camera 6739 as shown by the light from the environment 6770 moves asthe user moves their head so that images captured by the camera 6739correspond to the area of the environment that the user is looking at.By coaxially aligning the camera field of view with the displayed imageand the user's view of the scene, augmented reality images with improvedalignment to objects in the scene can be provided. This is because thecaptured images from the camera 6739 provide an accurate representationof the user's perspective view of the scene. As an example, when theuser sees an object in the scene as being located in the middle of thesee-through view of the HWC, the object will be located in the middle ofthe image captured by the camera and any augmented reality imagery thatis to be associated with the object can be located in the middle of thedisplayed image. As the user moves their head, the relative position ofthe object as seen in the see-through view of the scene will change andthe position of the augmented reality imagery can be changed within thedisplayed image in a corresponding manner. When a camera 6739 isprovided for each of the user's eyes, an accurate representation of the3D view of the scene can be provided as well. This is an importantadvantage provided by the invention because images captured by a cameralocated in the frame of the HWC (e.g. between the eyes or at thecorners) capture images that are laterally offset from the user'sperspective of the scene and as a result it is difficult to alignaugmented reality images with objects in the scene as seen from theuser's perspective.

In the optical system 6715 shown in FIG. 67, the absorptive polarizer6737 simultaneously functions as a light trap for escaping image light6750, a light blocker of the image light 6750 for the camera 6739 and awindow for light from the environment 6770 to the camera 6739. This ispossible because the polarization state of the image light 6750 isperpendicular to the transmission axis of the absorptive polarizer 6737while the light from the environment 6770 is unpolarized so that aportion of the light from the environment 6770 that is the oppositepolarization state to the image light is transmitted by the absorptivepolarizer 6737. The combiner 6735 can be any partially reflectivesurface including a simple partial mirror, a notch mirror and aholographic mirror. The reflectivity of the combiner 6735 can beselected to be greater than 50% (e.g. 55% reflectivity and 45%transmission over the visible wavelength spectral band) whereby amajority of the image light 6750 will be reflected toward the user's eye6730 and a majority of light from the environment 6770 will be reflectedtoward the camera 6739, this system will provide a brighter displayedimage, a brighter captured image with a dimmer see-through view of theenvironment. Alternatively, the reflectivity of the combiner 6735 can beselected to be less than 50% (e.g. 20% reflectivity and 80% transmissionover the visible wavelength spectral band) whereby the majority of theimage light 6750 will be transmitted by the combiner 6735 and a majorityof light from the environment 6770 will be transmitted to the user's eye6730, this system will provide a brighter see-through view of theenvironment, while providing a dimmer displayed image and a dimmercaptured image. As such, the system can be designed to favor theanticipated use by the user.

In embodiments, the combiner 6735 is planar with an optical flatnessthat is sufficient to enable a sharp displayed image and a sharpcaptured image, such as a flatness of less than 20 waves of light withinthe visible wavelengths. However, in embodiments, the combiner 6735 maybe curved in which case the displayed image and the captured image willboth be distorted and this distortion will have to be digitallycorrected by the associated image processing system. In the case of thedisplayed image, the image is digitally distorted by the imageprocessing system in a direction that is opposite to the distortion thatis caused by the curved combiner so the two distortions cancel oneanother and as a result the user sees an undistorted displayed image. Inthe case of the captured image, the captured image is digitallydistorted after capture to cancel out the distortion caused by thecurved combiner so that the image appears to be undistorted after imageprocessing.

In embodiments, the combiner 6735 is an adjustable partial mirror inwhich the reflectivity can be changed by the user or automatically tobetter function within different environmental conditions or differentuse cases. The adjustable partial mirror can be an electricallycontrollable mirror such as for example, the e-Transflector that can beobtained from Kent Optronics (http://www.kentoptronics.com/mirror.html)where the reflectivity can be adjusted based on an applied voltage. Theadjustable partial mirror can also be a fast switchable mirror (e.g. aswitching time of less than 0.03 seconds) wherein the perceivedtransparency is derived from the duty cycle of the mirror rapidlyswitching between a reflecting state and a transmitting state. Inembodiments, the images captured by the camera 6739 can be synchronizedto occur when the fast switchable mirror is in the reflecting state toprovide an increased amount of light to the camera 6739 during imagecapture. As such, an adjustable partial mirror allows for thetransmissivity of the partial mirror to be changed corresponding to theenvironmental conditions, e.g. the transmissivity can be low when theenvironment is bright and the transmissivity can be high when theenvironment is dim.

In a further embodiment, the combiner 6735 includes a hot mirror coatingon the side facing the camera 6739 wherein visible wavelength light issubstantially transmitted while a spectral wavelength band of infraredlight is substantially reflected and the camera 6739 captures imagesthat include at least a portion of the infrared wavelength light. Inthese embodiments, the image light 6750 includes visible wavelengthlight and a portion of the visible wavelength light is transmitted bythe combiner 6735, where it is then absorbed by the absorptive polarizer6737. A portion of the scene light 6760 is comprised of visiblewavelength light and this is also transmitted by the combiner 6735, toprovide the user with a see-through view of the environment. The lightfrom the environment 6770 is comprised of visible wavelength light andinfrared wavelength light. A portion of the visible wavelength lightalong with substantially all of the infrared wavelength light within thespectral wavelength band associated with the hot mirror, is reflected bythe combiner 6735 toward the camera 6739 thereby passing through theabsorptive polarizer 6737. In embodiments, the camera 6739 is selectedto include an image sensor that is sensitive to infrared wavelengths oflight and the absorptive polarizer 6737 is selected to substantiallytransmit infrared wavelengths of light of both polarization states (e.g.ITOS XP44 polarizer which transmits both polarization states of lightwith wavelengths above 750 nm: seehttp://www.itos.de/english/polarisatoren/linear/linear.php) so that anincreased % of infrared light is captured by the camera 6739. In theseembodiments, the absorptive polarizer 6737 functions as a light trap forthe escaping image light 6750 and thereby blocking the image light 6750that is in the visible wavelengths from the camera 6739 whilesimultaneously acting as a window for infrared wavelength light from theenvironment 6770 for the camera 6739.

By coaxially aligning the camera field of view with the displayed imageand the user's view of the scene, augmented reality images with improvedalignment to objects in the scene can be provided. This is because thecaptured images from the camera provide an accurate representation ofthe user's perspective view of the scene. In embodiments, the camerathat is coaxially aligned with the user's view captures an image of thescene, the processor then identifies an object in the captured image andidentifies a field of view position for the object, which can becompared to the displayed field of view correlated position so digitalcontent is then displayed relative to the position of the object.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to an optical assemblythat uses a reflective display where the reflective display isilluminated with a front light arranged to direct the illumination atangles around 90 degrees from the active reflective surface of thereflective display. In embodiments, the optical configuration is lightweight, small and produces a high quality image in a head-wornsee-through display.

FIG. 68 provides a cross sectional illustration of the compact opticaldisplay assembly for a HWC 102 according to principles of the presentinvention along with illustrative light rays to show how the lightpasses through the assembly. The display assembly is comprised of upperoptics and lower optics. The upper optics include a reflective imagesource 6810, a quarter wave film 6815, a field lens 6820, a reflectivepolarizer 6830 and a polarized light source 6850. The upper opticsconvert illumination light 6837 into image light 6835. The lower opticscomprise a beam splitter plate 6870 and a rotationally curved partialmirror 6860. The lower optics deliver the image light to a user who iswearing the HWC 102. The compact optical display assembly provides theuser with image light 6835 that conveys a displayed image along withscene light 6865 that provides a see-through view of the environment sothat user sees the displayed image overlaid onto the view of theenvironment.

In the upper optics, linearly polarized light is provided by thepolarized light source 6850. Where the polarized light source 6850 caninclude one or more lights such as LEDs, QLEDs, laser diodes,fluorescent lights, etc. The polarized light source 6850 can alsoinclude a backlight assembly with light scattering surfaces or diffusersto spread the light uniformly across the output area of the polarizedlight source. Light control films or light control structures can beincluded as well to control the distribution of the light (also known asthe cone angle) that is provided by the polarized light source 6850. Thelight control films can include, for example, diffusers, ellipticaldiffusers, prism films and lenticular lens arrays. The light controlstructures can include prism arrays, lenticular lenses, cylindricallenses, Fresnel lenses, refractive lenses, diffractive lenses or otherstructures that control the angular distribution of the illuminationlight 6837. The output surface of the polarized light source 6850 is apolarizer film to ensure that the illumination light 6837 provided tothe upper optics is linearly polarized.

The illumination light 6837 provided by the polarized light source 6850is reflected by a reflective polarizer 6830. Where the polarizer on theoutput surface of the polarized light source 6850 and the reflectivepolarizer 6830 are oriented so that their respective transmission axesare perpendicular to one another. As a result, the majority of theillumination light 6837 provided by the polarized light source 6850 isreflected by the reflective polarizer 6830. In addition, the reflectivepolarizer 6830 is angled so that the illumination light 6837 isreflected toward the reflective image source 6810 thereby illuminatingthe reflective image source 6810 as shown in FIG. 68.

The illumination light 6837 passes through a field lens 6820 and is thenincident onto the reflective image source 6810. The illumination light6837 is then reflected by the reflective image source (otherwisereferred to as a reflective display herein elsewhere) 6810. Wherein thereflective image source 6810 can comprise a liquid crystal on silicon(LCOS) display, a ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon (FLCSO)display, a reflective liquid crystal display, a cholesteric liquidcrystal display, a bistable nematic liquid crystal display, or othersuch reflective display. The display can be a monochrome reflectivedisplay that is used with sequential red/green/blue illumination light6837 or a full color display that is used with white illumination light6837. The reflective image source 6810 locally changes the polarizationstate of the illumination light 6837 in correspondence to the pixel bypixel image content that is displayed by the reflective image source6810 thereby forming image light 6835. Wherein if the reflective imagesource 6810 is a normally white display, the areas of the image light6835 that correspond to bright areas of the image content end up with apolarization state that is opposite to the polarization state of theillumination light and dark areas of the image light 6835 end up with apolarization state that is the same as the illumination light 6837 (itshould be noted that the invention can be used with normally blackdisplays which provide an opposite effect on polarization in the imagelight). As such, the image light 6835 as initially reflected by thereflective image source 6810 has a mixed polarization state pixel bypixel. The image light 6835 then passes through the field lens 6820which modifies the distribution of the image light 6835 while preservingthe wavefront to match the requirements (such as for example,magnification and focus) of the lower optics. As the image light 6835passes through the reflective polarizer 6830, the bright areas of theimage light 6835 that have a polarization state that is opposite to theillumination light 6837 are transmitted through the reflective polarizer6830 and the dark areas of the image light 6835 that have the samepolarization state as the illumination light 6837 are reflected backtoward the polarized light source 6850, as a result, the image light6835 after passing through the reflective polarizer 6830 is linearlypolarized with a single polarization state in all the pixels of theimage but now with different intensities pixel by pixel. Thus thereflective polarizer 6830 acts first as a reflector for the illuminationlight 6837 and then second as an analyzer polarizer for the image light6835.

As such, the optical axis of the illumination light 6837 is coincidentwith the optical axis of the image light 6835 between the reflectivepolarizer 6830 and the reflective image source 6810. The illuminationlight 6837 and the image light

6835 both pass through the field lens 6820, but in opposite directions.Wherein the field lens acts to expand the illumination light 6837 so itilluminates the entire active area of the reflective image source 6810and also to expand the image light 6835 so it fills the eyebox 6882after passing through the rest of the compact optical display system. Byoverlapping the portion of the compact optical display assemblyassociated with the illumination light 6837 with the portion of thecompact optical display assembly associated with the image light 6835,the overall size of the compact optical display assembly is reduced.Given that the focal length associated with the field lens 6820 requiressome space in the compact optical display assembly, the reflectivepolarizer 6830 and the polarized light source 6850 are located in spacethat would otherwise be unused so the overall size of the displayassembly is more compact.

The reflective polarizer 6830 can be a relatively thin film (e.g. 80microns) or thin plate (e.g. 0.2 mm) as shown in FIG. 68. The reflectivepolarizer 6830 can be a wiregrid polarizer such as is available fromAsahi Kasei under the name WGF, or a multilayer dielectric filmpolarizer such as is available from 3M under the name DBEF. Aspreviously described, the reflective polarizer 6830 has two functions.First, the reflective polarizer 6830 reflects the illumination light6837 provided by the polarized light source 6850 and redirects theillumination light 6837 toward the reflective image source 6810. Second,the reflective polarizer 6830 acts as an analyzer polarizer to the imagelight 6835 thereby converting the mixed polarization state of the imagelight 6835 above the reflective polarizer 6830 to linearly polarizedlight with a single polarization state below the reflective polarizer6830. While the illumination light 6837 incident on the reflectivepolarizer 6830 is incident on a relatively small portion of thereflective polarizer 6830, the image light 6835 is incident on themajority of the area of the reflective polarizer 6830. Consequently, thereflective polarizer 6830 extends at least across the entire area of thefield lens 6820 and may extend across the entire area between the fieldlens 6820 and the beam splitter 6870 as shown in FIG. 68. In addition,the reflective polarizer 6830 is angled at least in the portion wherethe illumination light 6837 is incident to redirect the illuminationlight 6837 toward the reflective image source 6810. However, sincereflective polarizers (such as a wiregrid polarizer) can be relativelyinsensitive to the incident angle, in a preferred embodiment, thereflective polarizer 6830 is a flat surface angled to redirect theillumination light 6837 toward the reflective image source 6810 whereinthe flat surface extends substantially across the entire area betweenthe field lens 6820 and the beam splitter 6870 in one continuously flatsurface to make manufacturing easier. The thin film or thin plate of thereflective polarizer 6870 can be retained at the edges to position it atthe desired angle and to make the surface flat.

The systems and methods described herein with respect to FIGS. 68through 71 have a number of advantages. By avoiding grazing angles ofthe illumination light 6837 and the image light 6835 at all the surfacesin the compact optical display assembly, scattering of light in theassembly is reduced and as a result the contrast of the image presentedto the user's eye 6880 is higher with blacker blacks. In addition, thereflective image source 6810 can include a compensating retarder film6815 as is known to those skilled in the art, to enable the reflectiveimage source 6810 to provide a higher contrast image with more uniformcontrast over the area of the displayed image. Further, by providing anoptical display assembly that is largely comprised of air, the weight ofthe compact optical display assembly is substantially reduced. By usingcoincident optical axes for the illumination light 6837 and the imagelight 6835 and overlapping the illumination light 6837 and image light6835 for a substantial portion of the optical display assembly, theoverall size of the compact optical display assembly is reduced. Wherethe coincident optical axes are provided by passing the illuminationlight 6837 and the image light 6835 in opposite directions through thefield lens 6820. To maintain a uniform polarization state for theillumination light 6837, the field lens 6820 is made from a lowbirefringence material such as glass or a plastic such as OKP4 asavailable from Osaka Gas Chemicals. By positioning the polarized lightsource 6850 and the associated illumination light 6837 below the fieldlens 6820, and by folding the optical path of both the illuminationlight 6837 at the reflective polarizer 6830 and the image light 6835 atthe beam splitter 6870, the overall height of the compact opticaldisplay assembly is greatly reduced. For example the overall height ofthe compact optical display assembly can be less than 24 mm as measuredfrom the reflective image source 6810 to the bottom edge of therotationally curved partial mirror 6860 for a display that provides a 30degree diagonal field of view with a 6×10 mm eyebox.

In a preferred case, the light control structure in the polarized lightsource 6850 includes a positive lens, such as for example a positiveFresnel lens, a positive diffractive lens or a positive refractive lens.Wherein a positive Fresnel lens or a positive diffractive lens ispreferred because they can be very thin. The illumination light 6837 isthereby focused to form a smaller area or pupil at the reflectivepolarizer 6830 that has a direct relationship to the area of an eyebox6882 at the other end of the optics wherein image light 6835 is providedto the user's eye 6880 as shown in FIG. 68. Where the positive lensconcentrates the illumination light 6837 from the polarized light source6850 both in terms of intensity and angular distribution to match theetendue of the optical system and thereby fills the eyebox with imagelight 6835. By using the positive lens to converge the light from thepolarized light source 6850 as provided to the reflective polarizer 6830and then using the field lens 6820 to expand the illumination light 6837to illuminate the active area of the reflective image source 6810,efficiency is improved since illumination light 6837 is substantiallydelivered only where needed to form image light 6835. Further,illumination light 6837 outside the pupil can be controlled by thepositive lens and clipped by masked edges of the positive lens. Byfocusing the illumination light 6837 and clipping light outside thepupil, illumination light 6837 is prevented from impinging adjacentsurfaces at grazing angles in the compact optical display assembly toreduce scattering of light and thereby increase contrast in the imageprovided to the user's eye 6880 by providing blacker blacks.

It should be noted that while FIGS. 68, 69 and 70 show optical layoutswherein the illumination light 6837 is provided from behind therotationally curved partial mirror 6860, other optical layouts arepossible within the invention. The location of the polarized lightsource 6850 can be changed for example to be at the side of therotationally curved partial mirror 6860 wherein the reflective polarizer6830 is oriented to receive the illumination light 6837 from the side.And reflect it toward the reflective image source 6810 (not shown).

In a further embodiment, the portion of the image light 6835 that isreflected back toward the polarized light source 6850 is recycled in thepolarized light source 6850 to increase the efficiency of the polarizedlight source 6850. In this case, a diffuser and a reflective surface isprovided behind the polarized light source 6850 so the polarization ofthe light is scrambled and reflected back toward the reflectivepolarizer 6830.

In yet another embodiment, another reflective polarizer is provided inthe polarized light source 6850 and behind the linear polarizerpreviously disclosed. Wherein the respective transmission axes of thereflective polarizer and the linear polarizer are parallel to oneanother. The other reflective polarizer then reflects the light backinto the backlight that has the polarization state that would not betransmitted by the linear polarizer. The light that is reflected backinto the backlight passes through diffusers associated with thepolarized light source 6850 where the polarization state is scrambledand reemitted thereby recycling the light and increasing efficiency.

In another embodiment, the system according to the principles of thepresent invention includes an eye imaging system. FIG. 69 is anillustration of a compact optical display assembly, which includes aneye imaging camera 6992 that captures an image of the user's eye 6880that is coaxial with the displayed image provided to the user so that afull image of the user's iris can be reliably captured. The eye imagingcamera 6992 is reflected into the lower optics by a reflective polarizer6930 that includes a notch mirror coating, facing the eye imaging camera6992, that reflects the wavelengths of light that are captured by theeye imaging camera 6992 (e.g. near infrared wavelengths) whiletransmitting wavelengths associated with the image light 6835 (e.g.visible wavelengths). Eye light rays 6995 shown in FIG. 69 illustratehow the field of view associated with the eye imaging camera 6992 is arelatively narrow field of view because it is multiply reflected throughthe lower optics to capture an image of the user's eye 6880. However, toenable the eye imaging camera 6992 to focus onto the user's eye 6880,the eye imaging camera 6992 needs to have a very near focus distance(e.g. 35 mm). In addition, the field of view and focus distance of theeye imaging camera must take into account the reducing effect of theoptical power provided by the rotationally curved partial mirror 6860.To increase the efficiency of capturing the light reflected from theuser's eye 6880 and thereby enable a brighter image of the eye, therotationally curved partial mirror 6860 can be coated with a partialmirror coating that acts as a full mirror in the wavelengths beingcaptured by the eye imaging camera 6992, for example the coating canreflect 50% of visible light associated with the image light and 90% ofnear infrared light associated with the eye light 6995. Where thereflections and associated changes in polarization state are similar tothose associated with the image light 6835 but in the opposite ordersince the eye light rays 6995 are coming from the user's eye 6880. LEDsor other miniature lights are provided adjacent to the user's eye 6880to illuminate the user's eye 6880 wherein the wavelengths associatedwith the LED's or other miniature lights are different than thewavelengths associated with the image light 6835 such as for examplenear infrared wavelengths (e.g. 850 nm, 940 nm or 1050 nm).Alternatively, the image light 6835 is used to illuminate the user's eye6880 and a reflective polarizer 6930 with a low extinction ratio inreflection (e.g. reflective extinction ratio<15) is used so that some ofthe eye light rays are reflected toward the eye imaging camera 6992.

In an alternative embodiment, the reflective and partially reflectivesurfaces can extend laterally to the sides of the areas used fordisplaying an image to the user. In this case, the eye imaging cameracan be located adjacent to the field lens and pointed in a direction toimage the user's eye after reflecting from the beam splitter and therotationally curved partial mirror as shown in FIG. 70. Where FIG. 70 isan illustration that shows an eye imaging camera 7092 positioned to theside of the field lens 6820 and reflective polarizer 6830. The eyeimaging camera 7092 is pointed such that the field of view captured bythe eye imaging camera 7092 includes the user's eye 6880 as illustratedby the eye light rays 7095. The quarter wave film 6890 is also extendedlaterally to change the polarization state of the eye light 7095 in thesame way that the polarization state of the image light is changed sothat the eye light passes through the beam splitter 6870 and quarterwave 6890, is partially reflected by the rotationally curved partialmirror 6860 and is then reflected by the beam splitter 6870 and is thencaptured by the eye imaging camera 7092. By positioning the eye imagingcamera 7092 to the side of the field lens 6820 and reflective polarizer6830, the complexity of the optics associated with displaying an imageto the user is reduced. In addition, the space available for the eyeimaging camera 7092 is increased since interferences with the displayoptics are reduced. By positioning the eye imaging camera 7092 adjacentto the display optics, the eye image is captured nearly coaxially withthe displayed image.

In a yet another embodiment, the systems according to the principles ofthe present invention include a field lens with an internal reflectivepolarizer and one or more surfaces with optical power. FIG. 71 is anillustration of the upper optics including a field lens 7121 comprisedof upper prism 7122 and lower prism 7123. The upper prism 7122 and thelower prism 7123 can be molded to shape or grind and polished. Areflective polarizer 7124 is interposed on the flat surface between theupper prism 7122 and the lower prism 7123. The reflective polarizer 7124can be a wiregrid polarizer film or a multilayer dielectric polarizer aspreviously mentioned. The reflective polarizer 7124 can be bonded intoplace with a transparent UV curable adhesive that has the samerefractive index as the upper prism 7122 or the lower prism 7123.Typically the upper prism 7122 and the lower prism 7123 would have thesame refractive index. Wherein upper prism 7122 includes an angledsurface for illumination light 6837 to be provided to illuminate thereflective image source 6810. The illumination light is provided by alight source that includes lights such as LEDs, a backlight 7151, adiffuser 7152 and a polarizer 7153 as has been previously described. Thelower prism 7123 includes a curved surface on the exit surface forcontrolling the wavefront of the image light 6835 as supplied to thelower optics. The upper prism may also include a curved surface on theupper surface next to the reflective image source 6810 as shown in FIG.71 for manipulating the chief ray angles of the light at the surface ofthe reflective image source 6810. Illumination light 6837 is polarizedby the polarizer 7153 prior to entering the upper prism 7122. Thetransmission axes of the polarizer 7153 and the reflective polarizer7124 are perpendicular to one another so that the illumination light6837 is reflected by the reflective polarizer 7124 so that theillumination light is redirected toward the reflective image source6810. The polarization state of the illumination light 6837 is thenchanged by the reflective image source 6810 in correspondence with theimage content to be displayed as previously described and the resultingimage light 6835 then passes through the reflective polarizer 7124 toform the bright and dark areas associated with the image that isdisplayed to the user's eye 6880.

In another embodiment, the field lens 7121 of FIG. 71 comprises apolarizing beam splitter cube including two prisms, upper prism 7122 andlower prism 7123. In this case, the reflective polarizer 7124 isreplaced by a coating that is polarization sensitive so that light ofone polarization state (typically S polarized light for example) isreflected and light of the other polarization state is transmitted. Theillumination light 6837 is then provided with the polarization statethat is reflected by the coating and the image light is provided withthe polarization state that is transmitted by the coating. As shown inFIG. 71, the beam splitter cube includes one or more curved surfaces inthe upper prism 7122 or the lower prism 7123. The beam splitter cube canalso include one or more angled surfaces where the illumination light issupplied. The angled surface can include light control structures suchas a microlens array to improve the uniformity of the illumination light6837, or a lenticular array to collimate the illumination light 6837.

In yet another embodiment, the curved surface(s) or the angledsurface(s) illustrated in FIG. 71 can be molded onto a rectangularlyshaped beam splitter cube by casting a UV curable material (e.g. UVcurable acrylic) onto a flat surface of a beam splitter cube, placing atransparent mold with a cavity that has the desired curve onto the flatsurface to force the UV curable material into the desired curve andapplying UV light to cure the UV curable material. The beam splittercube can be made of a material that has the same or different refractiveindex than the UV curable material.

In a further embodiment, polarization sensitive reflective coatings suchas dielectric partial mirror coatings, can be used in place ofreflective polarizers or beam splitters as shown in FIG. 68. In thiscase, the reflective films and plates that comprise the reflectivepolarizers 6830 and beam splitters 6870 include polarization sensitivecoatings that substantially reflect light with one polarization state(e.g. S polarization) while substantially transmitting light with theother polarization state (e.g. P polarization). Since the illuminationlight source includes a polarizer 7153, the illumination light 6837 isone polarization state and it is not important that the reflectivepolarizer 7124 be sensitive to the polarization state in reflection, thepolarization state just needs to be maintained and presented uniformlyover the surface of the reflective image source 6810. However, it isimportant that the reflective polarizer 7124 be highly sensitive topolarization state in transmission (e.g. extinction ratio >200) to be aneffective polarizer analyzer and to provide a high contrast image (e.g.contrast ratio >200) to the user's eye 6880.

In a further embodiment, the field lens 7121 shown in FIG. 71 cancomprise a reflective polarizer 7124 with a curved surface (not shown)instead of a flat surface and wherein the reflective polarizer 7124 isnot a film and instead is a polarization sensitive coating, a printedwiregrid polarizer or a molded wiregrid pattern that is then metallized.In this case, the upper prism 7122 and the lower prism 7123 are made asa matched pair with mating curved surfaces that together form thesurface of the reflective polarizer. Wherein the polarization sensitivecoating, the printed wiregrid or the molded wiregrid pattern are appliedto the mating curved surface associated either the upper prism 7122 orthe lower prism 7123 and a transparent adhesive is applied to the othermating surface to bond the upper prism 7122 and lower prism 7123together to form the field lens 7121 with an internal curved reflectivepolarizer 7121.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to manufacturing andproviding an optical element for use in a see-through computer displaysystem. In embodiments, a lightweight low-cost and high optical qualityoptical element.

In a head mounted display, a beam splitter can be used to directilluminating light from a light source toward a reflective image sourcesuch as an LCOS or a DLP. Where it is desirable to have a low weightbeam splitter with a flat partially reflective surface to provide goodimage quality. The flat partially reflective surface is particularlyimportant when an eye camera is provided for eye imaging that utilizesthe flat partially reflective surface for directing the field of view ofthe eye camera toward the user's eye.

Systems and methods provide for a lightweight beam splitter comprised ofmolded plastic elements and an internal plate element to provide a flatpartially reflective surface. Together the pieces form a triplet beamsplitter optic including two molded elements and a plate element. Byproviding the plate element internal to the beam splitter, the matchingsurfaces of the molded elements do not have to be optically flat,instead the plate element provides the flat surface and an indexmatching material is used to join the plate element to the moldedelements. All three elements can be plastic elements to reduce theweight and cost of the lightweight beam splitter. To provide a moreuniform refractive effect, the molded elements and the plate element arepreferentially made from plastic materials with similar refractive indexand have low birefringence.

FIG. 72 shows an illustration of the two molded elements 7210 and 7220.These molded elements are molded with a relatively uniform thickness toprovide uniform flow of the plastic material during molding (eitherinjection molding, compression molding or casting) and thereby enable alow birefringence in the elements as molded. To further reducebirefringence in the molded elements as molded, materials with lowviscosity and low stress optic coefficients are preferred including:OKP4 from Osaka Gas Company; Zeonex F52R, K26R or 350R from ZeonChemical; PanLite SP3810 from Teijin.

The molded elements 7210 and 7220 can include flat surfaces and surfaceswith optical power, where the surfaces with optical power can includespherical or aspheric curved surfaces, diffractive surfaces or Fresnelsurfaces. Flat surfaces, diffractive surfaces or Fresnel surfaces arepreferred on the surfaces associated with light that illuminates theimage source and flat surfaces, spherical surfaces or aspheric surfacesare preferred on the surfaces associated with image light. Moldedelement 7210 is shown with a spherical or aspheric surface 7215 andmolded element 7220 is shown with a flat surface 7225, however, any ofthe surfaces shown can be molded as flat surfaces or surfaces withoptical power.

After molding the molded elements 7210 and 7220 are machined to providematching angled surfaces. Molded element 7210 is shown in FIG. 73 wherea milling cutter 7328 is shown machining angled surface 7329. FIG. 74shows an illustration of molded elements 7210 and 7220 after they havebeen machined to respectively provide beam splitter elements 7430 and7440 that are prisms. The angled surface of beam splitter elements 7430and 7440 are machined to have matching angles. Alternatively, beamsplitter elements 7430 and 7440 can be machined from sheet material ormolded pucks. In either case of using machined angled surfaces or moldedangled surface in the beam splitter elements, the surfaces will not beoptically flat.

FIG. 75 shows an illustration of the assembled triplet beam splitteroptic, wherein the beam splitter elements 7430 and 7440 have beenassembled with a partially reflecting plate element 7560 to form a beamsplitter cube. Wherein the beam splitter elements 7430 and 7440 are madefrom either the same material or different materials that have a verysimilar refractive index (e.g. within 0.05 of each other). An indexmatching material is used at the interfaces between the beam splitterelements and the plate element. The index matching material can be afluid, a light curing adhesive, a moisture curing adhesive or athermally curing adhesive. The index matching material should have arefractive index that is very similar to that of the beam splitterelements (e.g. within 0.1).

The partially reflective plate element 7560 can be a transparent platewith a partially reflective layer that is either a partially reflectivecoating or a laminated partially reflective film. The transparent plateis preferably a cast sheet such as cell cast acrylic that has lowbirefringence, or a molded plaque of a low birefringence material suchas OKP4, Zeonex F52R, Zeonex K26R, Zeonex 350R or PanLite SP3810. Inaddition, the transparent plate should be optically flat (e.g. within 20microns over the surface and with a surface finish of less than 15nanometers), however optically flat surfaces are easily obtained insheet stock. By using an index matching material at the interfacesbetween the beam splitter elements 7430 and 7440 and the partiallyreflective plate element 7560, the lack of optical flatness of thesurface of the beam splitter elements 7430 and 7440 can be filled by theindex matching material so that the flatness of the reflective surfaceis determined by the flatness of the more easily obtained partiallyreflective plate element 7560 thereby providing a manufacturingadvantage. The partially reflective layer can be a partial mirror, areflective polarizer or a wiregrid polarizer where the reflectivepolarizer can be a coating or a film and the wiregrid polarizer can be afilm or a molded structure that is partially coated with a conductivelayer. Where a suitable reflective polarizer film can be obtained from3M available under the trade name of DBEFQ and a wiregird polarizer filmcan be obtained from Asahi-Kasei available under the trade name of WGF.In a preferred embodiment, the transparent plate of the partiallyreflective plate element 7560 has a refractive index that is verysimilar (e.g. within 0.1) to the refractive indices of the beam splitterelements 7430 and 7440

FIG. 76 shows an illustration of an optical system for a head mounteddisplay system. The system includes a reflective display as an imagesource 7667, a light source 7665 that can be a white light source or asequential color light source as appropriate for the image source 7665.Wherein the light source 7665 provides illumination light 7674 that canbe polarized light provided that a quarter wave layer is associated withthe image source 7667 or the partially reflecting plate element 7560 sothat the polarization of the illumination light 7674 is changed beforebecoming image light 7672. The illumination light 7674 is reflected by asurface of the partially reflecting plate element 7560, and thenreflected by the image source 7667, whereupon it passes through thepartially reflective plate element 7560 thereby becoming image light7672. The image light 7672 is then reflected by a partially reflectivecombiner 7682 so that the image light is directed toward the user's eye7680 to display an image to the user while simultaneously providing asee-through view of the environment. In the optical system, an indexmatching material can be used at the interface between the image source7665 and the beam splitter element 7440 sop that the surface of the beamsplitter element 7440 does not have to be flat. It is contemplated bythe current inventions that the optical system may include additionallenses and other optical structures that are not shown to improve theimage quality or change the form factor of the optical system.

In another embodiment, beam splitter elements 7430 and 7440 are moldeddirectly to shape using injection molding or casting. The molded beamsplitter elements are then assembled as shown in FIG. 75 as describedpreviously herein.

In further embodiments, surfaces of the beam splitter elements aremolded or machined to have additional structures to provide furtherfeatures. FIG. 77 shows an illustration of lightweight beam splitter7750 that includes an extended partially reflective plate element 7760and an extended beam splitter element 7740, wherein the partiallyreflective surface is extended to provide additional area for theillumination light 7674 to be reflected toward the image source 7665.Where having an extended partially reflective surface is particularlyuseful when the image source 7665 is a DLP and the illumination light7665 must be delivered at an oblique angle. FIG. 78 shows a lightweightbeam splitter 7850 that includes an entrance surface 7840 for theillumination light 7674 that is angled so the illumination light 7674passes substantially perpendicularly through the entrance surface 7840.

In yet further embodiments, beam splitter element elements 7430 and 7440are machined from a single molded element. Where the single moldedelement is designed to provide the desired optical surfaces. Forexample, the molded element 7210 as shown in FIG. 72 has surfaces thatcould be used for both surface 7215 and 7225. A series of moldedelements 7210 could then be molded and some would be used to makemachined beam splitter elements 7430 and some for beam splitter elements7440. A partially reflective plate element 7560 would then be bondedwith the beam splitter element 7430 and 7440 using index-matchedadhesive as previously described herein. Alternatively, the singlemolded element 7210 could be designed with extra thickness across thedimension where the partially reflective plate element 7560 will beadded, so that a single molded element 7210 could be sawn, machined orlaser cut into beam splitter elements 7430 and 7440.

In another embodiment, a first molded optical element is molded in ageometry that enables improved optical characteristics including: lowbirefringence; more accurate replication of the optical surfaces of themold (reduced power and irregularity deviation). The first moldedoptical element is then cut to a different shape wherein the cuttingprocess leaves an optically rough surface finish. A second opticalelement with an optically smooth surface is then bonded to the opticallyrough surface of the first molded optical element using an index matchedadhesive to provide a combined optical element. The index matchedadhesive fills in the optically rough surface on the first moldedoptical element so that the optically rough surface is no longer visibleand an optically smooth surface is provided in the combined opticalelement by the second optical element. The optical characteristics ofthe combined optical element are improved as compared to a directlymolded optical element that has the geometry of the combined opticalelement. The cut surface can be flat or curved, as long as the cutsurface of the first molded optical element is substantially similar tothe bonding surface of the second optical element. In addition, both thefirst molded optical element and the second optical element can provideoptical surface with independent optical features such as optical power,wedge, diffraction, grating, dispersion, filtering and reflection. Forexample, optically flat surfaces can be difficult to mold on plasticlenses. A lens can be molded to provide a spherically curved surface andanother surface that is subsequently milled off to provide a flatsurface with a rough surface finish. An optically flat sheet can then bebonded to the milled surface using an index matched adhesive to providea combined optical element with an optically flat surface.

In yet further embodiments, surfaces of the beam splitter elementsinclude molded or machined structures to collimate, converge, diverge,diffuse, partially absorb, redirect or polarize the illumination light7674 or the image light 7672. In this way, the number of parts in thelightweight beam splitter is reduced and the cost and manufacturingcomplexity is reduced.

The multi-piece lightweight solid optic has been described in connectionwith certain embodiments; it should be understood that the multi-piecelightweight solid optic may be used in connection with other opticalarrangements (e.g. other see-through head-worn display opticalconfiguration described herein elsewhere).

In embodiments, the invention provides methods for aligning images,along with methods and apparatus for controlling light within the opticsof the display assembly associated with a HMD to prevent scattering andalso to trap excess light to thereby improve the image quality providedto the user.

FIG. 79 a is a schematic illustration of a cross section of a displayassembly for a HMD. Wherein, the display assembly includes upper optics795 and lower optics 797 that operate together to display an image to auser while simultaneously providing a see-through view of theenvironment. Aspects of the upper optics 795 will be discussed in moredetail herein. The lower optics 797 can comprise optical elements tomanipulate image light 7940 from the upper optics 795 and therebypresent the image light 7940 to the user's eye 799. Lower optics 797 cancomprise one or more lenses 7950 and a combiner 793. The combiner 793presents the image light 7940 to the user's eye 799 while simultaneouslyallowing light from the environment 791 to pass through to the user'seye 799 so that the user sees the displayed image overlaid onto a viewof the environment.

FIG. 79 is a schematic drawing of a cross section of the upper optics795 for a HMD. Included are a light source 7910, a partially reflectivelayer 7930, a reflective image source 7935 and a lens 7950. The lightsource 7910 provides illumination light 7920 to the HMD. Theillumination light 7920 is redirected by the partially reflective layer7930 to illuminate the reflective image source 7935. The illuminationlight 7920 is then reflected by the reflective image source 7935 incorrespondence with the image content in the displayed image so that itpasses through the partially reflective layer 7930 and thereby formsimage light 7940. The image light 7940 is optically manipulated by thelens 7950 and other optical elements (not shown) in the lower optics 797so that a displayed image is provided to a user's eye 799. Together, thelight source 7910, the partially reflective layer 7930 and thereflective image source 7935 form a frontlighted image source. Where,the reflective image source 7935 can comprise a LCOS, a FLCOS, DLP orother reflective display. FIGS. 79, 80, 82 and 83 are shown with theillumination light 7920 provided so that it is incident on thereflective image source 7935 at an oblique angle as is required for aDLP. FIGS. 84 c, 84 d, 85, 86, 87, 88 and 89 are shown with theillumination light 7920 provided perpendicular to the reflective imagesource 8535 as is required for an LCOS or FLCOS. The principles of theinvention described herein apply to any type of reflective image sourcewhere stray reduction is needed. The light source 7910 can include lightsources such as LEDs, laser diodes or other light sources (e.g. asdescribed herein) along with various light control elements including:diffusers, prismatic films, lenticular films, Fresnel lenses, refractivelenses and polarizers. Polarizers included in the light source 7910polarize the light exiting the light source 7910 so that theillumination light 7920 is polarized. The partially reflective layer7930 can be a partial mirror coating on a substrate or it can be areflective polarizer film such as a wire grid film supplied byAsahi-Kasei under the name WGF or a multilayer polarizer film suppliedby 3M under the name DBEF. When the partially reflective layer 7930 is areflective polarizer, the illumination light 7920 is supplied aspolarized light wherein the polarization axis of the illumination light7920 is oriented relative to the polarization axis of the reflectivepolarizer so that the illumination light 7920 is substantiallyreflected. The reflective image source 7935 then includes a quarter waveretarder (e.g. a quarter wave film) so that the polarization state ofthe illumination light 7920 is reversed in the process of beingreflected by the reflective image source 79345. This enables thereflected illumination light 7920 to then be substantially transmittedby the reflective polarizer. After passing through the partiallyreflective layer 7930, the light becomes image light 7940. The imagelight 7940 then passes into a lens 7950 which is part of the loweroptics 797 or display optics which manipulates the light to provide adisplayed image to the user's eye. While the partially reflective layer7930 is illustrated as a flat surface, the inventors have contemplatedthat the surface may be curved, shaped, have simple or complex angles,etc. and such surface shapes are encompassed by the principles of thepresent invention.

In HMDs that provide images to both eyes of the user, it is desirable toprovide the images so that they are aligned to one another. This isparticularly important when the images are viewed as stereo images wherethe perceived alignment of the images seen with each eye is critical toachieving the perception of depth. To provide an accurate alignment ofthe images, an active alignment of the optics can be performed after theoptics have been assembled into a rigid frame of the HMD. Where activealignment includes aligning the images for each eye to one another bymoving portions of the display assembly and affixing the portions intoposition relative to one another. To this end, FIG. 79 shows space 7952that extends around the reflective image source 7935 so that thereflective image source 7935 can be moved laterally and rotationally.The light source 7910 and partially reflective layer 7930 are arrangedto illuminate the area that includes the reflective image source 7935and a portion of the adjacent space 7952. As a result, the reflectiveimage source 7935 can be moved within the space 7952 during the activealignment process without losing illumination or degrading thebrightness of the displayed image. Where movements of the reflectiveimage source 7935 during the active alignment can include movements thatcorrespond to horizontal, vertical and rotational movements of the imageprovided to one eye relative to the image provided to the other eye ofthe user. The movements can be 0.5 mm in size for example when thereflective image source 7935 is approximately 5×8.5 mm in size (thisequates to approximately 10% of the reflective image source dimension)and as such the space 7952 can be 0.5 mm wide or wider.

However, by including the space 7952, in the illuminated area, visibleartifacts can occur due to light scattering or reflecting from the edgesof the reflective image source 7935 or from structures adjacent to thespace 7952. Consequently, a mask 8055 is provided that extends from theedge of the active area of the reflective image source 7935 across thespace 7952 to cover the edges of the reflective image source 7935 andstructures adjacent to the space 7952 as shown in FIG. 80. The mask 8055is black and non-reflecting so that incident illumination light 7920 isabsorbed. In addition the mask 8055 is designed to not interfere withthe movements of the reflective image source 7935 that occur duringactive alignment. To this end, the mask 8055 can be stiff (e.g. a blackplastic or a black coated metal) and designed to slide under theadjacent structures such as the light source 7910, the edge of thepartially reflective layer 7930 and the sides of the housing thatcontain the frontlight. Alternatively, the mask 8055 can be flexible(e.g. a black plastic film or a black rubber film or tape) so that itdeforms when it contacts the adjacent structures. FIG. 81 a shows anillustration of the reflective image source 7935, the light source 7910and the space 7952 as viewed from above. As is typically found withimage source of all kinds, there is a mask 8168 applied to the surfaceof the image source that surrounds the active area 8165, however thismask 8168 does not cover the space 7952. FIG. 81 b shows a furtherillustration of the system shown in FIG. 81 a wherein the mask 8055 isapplied to the reflective image source 7935 so that it attaches withinthe mask 8168 in a way that covers the space 7952 and does not block theactive area 8165.

In another embodiment, the image produced by the image source does notuse all of the active display area of the image source so there is roomto shift the image in an x and/or y perspective within the activedisplay area for alignment of the content. For example, if amisalignment is observed (as indicated above) rather than physicallymoving the image source, or in addition to moving the image source, theimage is digitally shifted in the x and/or y direction to create bettercombined content alignment. The originally inactive display area aroundthe content may be referred to as a content shift buffer zone.

In a further embodiment for aligning images in a HMD with see-through, afirst image containing features is provided to one eye of the user usinga display assembly similar to that shown in FIG. 79 a or FIG. 85. Asecond image containing features in the same locations is provided tothe other eye of the user. The position of at least one of the imagesources is then moved within the space provided for adjustment to alignthe first image to the second image as seen by the user's eyes. Thisimage alignment can also be done using cameras in place of the user'seyes.

In the case where the first and second images are smaller in size thanthe active area of the reflective image source, thereby leaving adigital space adjacent to the images that can be used for digitalshifting of the images for further alignment adjustment. This adjustmentcan be used in combination with physical movements of the reflectiveimage sources to align the first image to the second image.

FIG. 82 is an illustration of upper optics 825 that includes theelements of upper optics 795 with the addition of a trim polarizer 8260.Where the polarization axis of the trim polarizer 8260 is oriented sothe image light 7940 is transmitted to the lower optics (not shown).Light that has the opposite polarization state compared to the imagelight 7940 is absorbed by the trim polarizer 8260. As such, light thatis scattered from surfaces such as the walls of the housing 8262 thattypically has a mixed polarization state will be partially absorbed bythe trim polarizer 8260. The trim polarizer 8260 can also absorb aportion of colored light caused by birefringence in the lens 7950provided the trim polarizer 8260 is located after the lens 7950. In thiscase, the trim polarizer 8260 absorbs the light that has the oppositepolarization state caused by the birefringence and transmits the lightthat has the polarization state of the image light 7940 prior to thelens 7950. In some cases, it is advantageous to change the polarizationstate of the image light 7940 to improve the reflection of the imagelight 7940 from the combiner 793 so that a half wave retarder is neededin addition to the trim polarizer 8260. For proper operation, the halfwave retarder is positioned with it's fast axis oriented at 45 degreesto the transmission axis of the trim polarizer 8260. In this case, it isadvantageous to position the half wave retarder (not shown) below thetrim polarizer 8260 so that the trim polarizer can absorb any ellipticalpolarization that may be present due to birefringence in the lens 7950before the image light is acted upon by the half wave retarder. In thisway, any variation in retardation with wavelength that may be present inthe half wave retarder will not act to increase the ellipticalpolarization or act to increase color artifacts in the image light 7940caused by birefringence in the lens 7950. In an example, the trimpolarizer can be a polarizer film that is laminated to a half waveretarder film and antireflection coatings can be applied to the outersurfaces.

In FIG. 83, the partially reflective layer 8330 is a laminated multiplepolarizer film comprised of a reflective polarizer film 8332 laminatedto an absorptive polarizer film 8331. Where, the reflective polarizerfilm 8332 is only big enough to reflect the illumination light 7920 thatilluminates the active area 8165 of the reflective image source 7935.The absorptive polarizer film 8331 is larger than the reflectivepolarizer film 8332 and extends across the entire aperture between thereflective image source 7935 and the lens 7950, so that no edges of theabsorptive polarizer film 8331 are visible and all the light reflectedfrom the reflective image source 7935 passes through the absorptivepolarizer 8331. For the case when the reflective image source 7935 is anLCOS, the absorptive polarizer 8331 acts as an analyzer polarizer toonly allow the polarization state of the image light to be transmitted.As such, the reflective polarizer film 8332 only covers a portion of theabsorptive polarizer film 8331. The polarization axes of the reflectivepolarizer film 8332 and the absorptive polarizer film 8331 are alignedso that polarized light that is transmitted by the reflective polarizerfilm 8332 is also transmitted by the absorptive polarizer film 8331. Incontrast, polarized light that is reflected by the reflective polarizerfilm 8332 is absorbed by the absorptive polarizer film 8331. Thereby,illumination light 7920 that is incident onto the reflective polarizerfilm 8332 is reflected toward the reflective image source 7935 where thepolarization state is reversed so that it is transmitted by thereflective polarizer film 8332 and the absorptive polarizer film 8331 asit becomes image light 7940. At the same time, illumination light 7920that is incident onto the absorptive polarizer film 8331 in the areasurrounding the reflective polarizer film 8332 is absorbed by theabsorptive polarizer film 8331. By absorbing this excess illuminationlight 7920, that would not illuminate the active area 8165 of thereflective image source 7935, stray light is reduced within the displayassembly and the contrast in the image presented to the user's eye isincreased as a result. By aligning the polarization axes of thereflective polarizer film 8332 and the absorptive polarizer film 8331,the transmission is only reduced by approximately 12%, in the regionsthat include both reflective polarizer film 8332 and absorptivepolarizer film 8331 compared to the regions that include just absorptivepolarizer film 8331. Given the location of the partially reflectivelayer 8330 in the optical system and the fact that it is remote from thereflective image source 7935, having local differences in transmissionon the partially reflective layer 8330 comprised of a laminated multiplepolarizer will have a very small effect on the brightness uniformity inthe image provided to the user's eye. In addition, the fact that thepartially reflective layer 8330 is remote from the reflective imagesource 8330 makes the edges of the reflective polarizer film 8332indistinct as seen by the user.

FIGS. 84 a and 84 b show illustrations of examples of partiallyreflective layers 8330, comprised of a reflective polarizer film 8430and 8431 laminated to an absorptive polarizer film 8432. The reflectivepolarizer films 8430 and 8431 are cut to a shape that covers only thearea where illumination light 7920 will be reflected to illuminate theactive area 8165 of the reflective image source 7935. The shape requiredfor the reflective polarizer film will vary depending on the type offrontlight. For the frontlight shown in FIG. 83 where the partiallyreflective layer 8330 is located adjacent to the reflective image source7935, the shape of the reflective polarizer film 8431 will berectangular or oval such as shown in FIG. 84 b. For the frontlightincluded in the display assembly shown in FIG. 85 where the lens 8550 islocated between the partially reflective layer 8530 and the reflectiveimage source 8535, the influence of the illumination light 8520 passingthrough the lens 8550 changes the distribution of illumination light8520 needed from the light source 8510. As a result, the illuminationlight 8520 can cover only a portion of the partially reflective layer8530 and the use of a laminated multiple polarizer is advantageous. Inembodiments, the reflective polarizer film can cover less than 80% ofthe area of the absorptive polarizer film in the laminated partiallyreflective layer. In further embodiments, the reflective polarizer filmcan cover less than 50% of the area of the absorptive polarizer film inthe laminated partially reflective layer. In this case, the partiallyreflective layer 8530 can include a reflective polarizer film 8430 witha shape similar to that shown in FIG. 84 a. In any case, the shape ofthe reflective polarizer film is selected in concert with the opticalelements in the frontlight and display optics associated with thedisplay assembly of the HMD.

FIG. 84 c shows an example illustration of a frontlight for a displayassembly similar to that shown in FIG. 85 wherein a laminated multiplepolarizer film 8436 is shown with a complex curved shape that resemblesan S with a central flat portion and curved ends. The laminated multiplepolarizer 8436 includes a reflective polarizer film 8438 and anabsorptive polarizer film 8437. Illumination light 8520 includes rays8522 that are incident on the reflective polarizer film 8438 and rays8521 that are incident on the absorptive polarizer film 8437. Due to thealignment of the polarization of the illumination light 8520 to thepolarization axes of the reflective polarizer film 8438 and theabsorptive polarizer film 8437 as previously described herein, rays 8522are reflected by the reflective polarizer film 8438 and rays 8521 areabsorbed by the absorptive polarizer film 8437. In this way, rays 8521are prevented from contributing to stray light. It is beneficial toabsorb rays 8521 since they cannot contribute to image light 8540because if they were reflected by the laminated multiple polarizer 8436they would be incident on the reflective image source 8535 outside ofthe active area 8165, and if they were transmitted by the laminatedmultiple polarizer 8436, they would be incident on the housing sidewalls8262. Consequently, by absorbing rays 8521, the laminated multiplepolarizer 8436 reduces stray light and thereby increases the contrast inthe image displayed to the user.

FIG. 84 d shows a further example illustration of a frontlight for adisplay assembly similar to that shown in FIG. 79 wherein the partiallyreflective layer 7930 comprises a laminated multiple polarizer film witha curved surface. The laminated polarizer includes an absorptivepolarizer film 8442 with a laminated reflective polarizer film 8441. Thereflective polarizer film 8441 is positioned in the central portion ofthe absorptive polarizer film 8442 where the illumination light 7920 isreflected toward the reflective image source 7935. The polarization axesof the reflective polarizer film 8441 and the absorptive polarizer film8442 are aligned in parallel to each other and perpendicular to thepolarization axis of the illumination light 7920 as provided by thepolarized light source 7910. The rays 8421 of the illumination light7920 that are incident on the partially reflective layer 7930 outside ofthe reflective polarizer film 8441 are absorbed by the absorptivepolarizer film 8442. The reflective light source 8535 includes a quarterwave layer 8443 so that the polarization axis of the illuminating light7920 is changed during the process of being reflected from thereflective image source 8535. As a result, the reflected illuminationlight 7920 is transmitted by the reflective polarizer film 8441 and theabsorptive polarizer film 8442, thereby becoming image light 7940. Byabsorbing the rays 8421, before they are incident on external surfacessuch housing walls or other optical surfaces, stray light is reduced andas a result the contrast in the image provided to the user's eye isincreased. It should be noted that while FIGS. 84 c and 84 d show thereflective polarizer film being positioned to reduce stray light fromthe left and right sides as shown in the figure, the reflectivepolarizer can similarly be positioned to reduce stray light in thedirection in and out of the paper as shown in the figure. FIGS. 84 a and84 b show reflective polarizer films 8430 and 8431 positioned in acenter portion of the absorptive polarizer 8432 so that stray light canbe reduced in all directions. An important aspect of the invention isthat this stray light reduction is obtained without a reduction in thebrightness of the image provided to the user's eye since the reflectivepolarizer films 8430 and 8431 reflect illumination light over the entirearea that is needed to fully illuminate the reflective image source.

FIG. 85 shows a schematic illustration of a display assembly for a HMDwherein the optical elements of the frontlight are overlapped with thedisplay optics, as the lens 8550 is located between the partiallyreflective layer 8530 and the reflective image source 8535. The displayassembly is then comprised of upper optics and lower optics. The upperoptics include a reflective image source 8535, a lens 8550, a partiallyreflective layer 8530 and a light source 8510. The upper optics convertillumination light 8520 into image light 8540. As shown, the loweroptics comprise a beam splitter plate 8580, a quarter wave film 8575 anda rotationally curved partial mirror 8570 (lower optics similar to thoseshown in FIG. 79 a are also possible). The lower optics deliver theimage light 8540 to a user's eye 8582. As previously stated herein, thedisplay assembly provides the user with image light 8540 that conveys adisplayed image along with scene light 8583 that provides a see-throughview of the environment so that the user sees the displayed imageoverlaid onto a view of the environment.

FIG. 85 shows a display assembly wherein the partially reflective layer8530 is a single flat film. However, it can be advantageous to use asegmented partially reflective layer 8630 such as is shown in FIG. 86.In this way, the angle of the central portion 8631 of the partiallyreflective layer 8630 can be selected to position the light source 8610differently to reduce the clipping of illumination light 8620 by thelens 8550 or other portions of the supporting structure associated withthe display assembly and thereby improve brightness uniformity in thedisplayed image seen by the user's eye 8582. To this end, a comparisonof FIG. 85 to FIG. 86 shows that by changing the angle of the centralportion of the partially reflective film, the position of the lightsource 8610 is moved downward and the clearance of the illuminationlight 8620 is increased relative to the lens 8550.

Segmented partially reflective layers can be used which a variety ofgeometries and makeups. FIG. 86 shows a segmented partially reflectivelayer 8630 that includes a folded Z shape with three flat sections. FIG.87 shows a segmented partially reflective layer that includes an S shapewith a central flat section 8731 and ends that are curved similar tothat shown in FIG. 84 c. The segmented partially reflective layer cancomprise a single partially reflective layer such as a reflectivepolarizer film or a partial mirror film. In addition, illumination light8620 can be reflected from just the central flat section or it can bereflected from the central flat section plus one or more of the othersegments of the segmented partially reflective layer. Alternatively, thepartially reflective layer 8630 can comprise a multiple polarizer filmto selectively provide a partially reflective layer over just theportions of the partially reflective layer that are actually needed toreflect illumination light to uniformly illuminate the reflective imagesource 7935 as previously described herein. FIG. 88 shows a displayassembly wherein the partially reflective layer 8830 is comprised of alaminated multiple polarizer film with a central portion 8831 thatincludes a reflective polarizer film and the remainder of which is anabsorptive polarizer as previously described herein. Where the segmentedshape of the partially reflective layer 8830 is similar to that shown inFIG. 86. FIG. 89 shows a display assembly wherein the partiallyreflective layer 8930 is comprised of a laminated multiple polarizerfilm with a central portion 8931 that includes a reflective polarizerfilm and the remainder of which is an absorptive polarizer as previouslydescribed herein. Where the segmented shape of the partially reflectivelayer 8930 is similar to that shown in FIG. 87. While FIGS. 88 and 89show the reflective polarizer film as just occupying the flat centralsegment of the segmented partially reflective layers 8830 and 8930respectively, the reflective polarizer can extend into the adjacentsegments as needed to reflect the illumination light 8620 in the patternneeded to uniformly illuminate the reflective image source 8535.Alternatively the segments associated with the segmented partiallyreflective layers 8830 and 8930 can have three dimensional shapes whenthe reflective polarizer portion is shaped like that shown in FIG. 84 ato keep the reflective polarizer 8430 portion flat.

In a further embodiment, the reflective polarizer film is laminated to aflexible transparent carrier film to increase the flexibility and theabsorptive polarizer film is a separate layer. FIG. 90 shows a partiallyreflective layer 9030 comprised of a reflective polarizer film 8441laminated to a flexible transparent carrier film 9043. Where theflexible transparent carrier film 9043 does not reflect the illuminationlight 7920 or change polarization state of the illumination light 7920and as a result rays 8421 pass through the flexible transparent carrierfilm 9043. The purpose of the flexible transparent carrier film is tosupport the reflective polarizer film 8441 while allowing the partiallyreflective layer 9030 to be substantially as flexible as the reflectivepolarizer film 8441 alone. Absorptive polarizer film 9042 is thenprovided as a separate layer positioned adjacent to the partiallyreflective layer 9030. While the absorptive polarizer film 9042 can beflat or curved as needed to fit within the available space, in apreferred embodiment, the absorptive polarizer film 9042 is curved to bebetter positioned to absorb rays 8421 that are incident on the partiallyreflective layer 9030 outside of the reflective polarizer film 8441 asshown in FIG. 90.

In yet another embodiment, the reflective polarizer film is modified tomake the portions transparent and non-reflective where illuminationlight is incident that is not needed to illuminate the active area ofthe reflective image source and a separate absorptive polarizer isprovided to absorb light that is transmitted through the non-reflectiveportions. FIG. 91 is an illustration of a partially reflective layer9130 comprised of a reflective polarizer film wherein portions 9143 aremodified to be transparent and non-reflective while the portion 9141 isa reflective polarizer. As such, polarized illumination light 7920 isreflected by the reflective polarizer portion 9141 and is transmitted bythe modified portions 9143. An absorptive polarizer 9042 is provided asa separate layer adjacent to the partially reflective layer 9130 so thatrays 8421 of the illumination light 7920 are transmitted by the modifiedportions 9143 and absorbed by absorptive polarizer. Wherein thetransmission axis of the reflective polarizer portion 9141 is parallelaligned to the transmission axis of the absorptive polarizer 9042. Themodification of the reflective polarizer film can be accomplished byetching the reflective polarizer film, when the reflective polarizerfilm is a wiregrid polarizer, and thereby removing the metal wires ofthe wiregrid in the modified portions. Alternatively the wiregridpolarizer can be masked during the metal deposition step to provideshaped portions of wire grid polarizer during manufacturing. Anadvantage provided by modifying the reflective polarizer film is thatthe flexibility of the partially reflective layer 9130 is substantiallyunchanged by the modification and as a result the partially reflectivelayer 9130 remains uniformly flexible in both the modified portions 9143and the reflective polarizer portion 9141. Another advantage provided byusing a modified reflective polarizer film is that the transition fromthe modified portion 9143 to the reflective polarizer portion 9141 doesnot include a sharp edge that can cause visible artifacts in the imageprovided to the user's eye due to scattering by the edge or a change inoptical density from a thickness change. This embodiment can also beapplied to other types of display assemblies such as for example thatshown in FIG. 85.

In a yet further embodiment, the partially reflective layer comprises areflective polarizer film laminated to an absorptive polarizer and thepartially reflective layer includes a flat portion and a curved portion.FIG. 92 is an illustration of a frontlight for a display assemblysimilar to that shown in FIG. 79 a with the addition of a laminatedpartially reflective layer 9230 that has a portion that is a reflectivepolarizer laminated to an absorptive polarizer 9230. Where the partiallyreflective layer 9230 is segmented with a flat segment and a curvedsegment. By including a flat segment in the portion of the partiallyreflective layer 9230 that is a reflective polarizer 9241, theuniformity of illumination light 7920 that is reflected onto thereflective image source 7935 is improved because a larger portion of thelight source 7910 is mapped to the image as can be seen in FIG. 92.Wherein when using a small scale light source and associated lightcontrol films such as diffusers, it is important to map a large portionof the light source area to avoid darker or brighter lines across theimage produced by a dark or bright spot on the light source. Including aflat segment in the partially reflective layer 9230 also reduces localdistortions in the image provided to the user's eye that are caused bylocal changes in optical path length or localized refraction due tochanges in the surface angles that the light is exposed to. Thisembodiment can also be applied to other types of display assemblies suchas for example that shown in FIG. 85.

In head mounted displays that provide a displayed image overlaid onto asee-through view of the environment, it is advantageous to have highsee-through transmission both so the user can better interact with theenvironment and so that people in the environment can see the user'seyes so they feel more engaged with the user. It is also advantageous tohave a thin optics module with low height to make the head mounteddisplay more compact and thereby more attractive.

FIG. 93 shows an illustration of an optics module that provides the userwith a displayed image while simultaneously providing high see-thrutransmission. In this way, the user is provided with a displayed imageoverlaid onto a clear view of the environment. The optics moduleincludes a combiner 9320 that can have a partial mirror coating thattransmits a majority (greater than 50% transmission of visible light) ofthe available light from the environment, with transmission higher than70% preferred. For example, the combiner 9320 can have a broadbandpartial mirror that reflects less than 30% and transmits over 70% of theentire visible wavelength band. Alternatively, the combiner 9320 canhave a notch mirror coating where the reflectivity band of the notchmirror coating is matched to the wavelength bands provided by the lightsource 9340, where the light source 9340 can include one or more LEDs,QLEDs, diode lasers or other light source, each with narrow wavelengthbands (e.g. 50 nm wide bands or less, full width half max). The notchmirror coating can provide for example, greater than 20% reflectivity(e.g. 50% reflectivity) in the wavelengths bands provided by the lightsource 9340 while providing greater than 80% transmission in theremaining wavelength bands in the visible. For full color images to beprovided by the optics module, at least three LEDs with complimentarycolors are required such as red, green and blue light or, cyan, magentaand yellow light. In a preferred embodiment, the combiner 9320 has atristimulus notch mirror that reflects over 50% of the light within thewavelength bands provided by the light source 9340 and transmits anaverage of over 80% across the entire visible wavelength band. In thisway, the tristimulus notch mirror coating provides improved efficiencycompared to the partial mirror coating previously described. In anexample, if the combiner is to provide 75% transmission of visible lightfrom the environment 9362, the partial mirror coating will reflect only25% of image light 9360 so that 75% of the image light will betransmitted through the combiner and will not contribute to thebrightness of the image provided to the user's eye 9310. In contrast, atristimulus notch mirror coating can be used to reflect over 50% of theimage light 9360 over the wavelengths of light provided by the LEDs inthe light source 9340 while transmitting over 90% of the remainingwavelengths of visible light that are not provided by the LEDs so thatthe average transmission over the entire range of visible light is over75%. Consequently, the tristimulus notch mirror is twice as efficient asthe partial mirror in terms of the ability to reflect image light 9360toward the user's eye 9310.

To enable the optics module to operate with a combiner 9320 as shown inFIG. 93, image light 9360 is provided to a lens 9330 which focuses theimage light 9360 at the user's eye 9310. Wherein lens 9330 is shown as asingle lens element for simplicity, but multiple lens elements are alsopossible. The image light 9360 is provided from illumination light 9364that comes from the light source 9340. Where, the illumination light9364 is reflected by a beam splitter 9352 toward a reflective imagesource 9350. The image source 9350 can be a liquid crystal on silicondisplay (LCOS), a ferroelectric liquid crystal display (FLCOS) or othersuch reflective display. A polarizer 9342 can be associated with thelight source 9340 to provide polarized illumination light 9364. The beamsplitter 9352 can then be a reflective polarizer that is oriented tosubstantially reflect the polarized illumination light 9364. The imagesource 9350 changes the polarization state of the illumination light9364 when the light is reflected by the image source 9350 to form imagelight 9360 that has a polarization state that is opposite to that of theillumination light 9364. By changing the polarization state of theillumination light 9364 to the polarization state of the image light9360, the image light 9360 can then be transmitted by the reflectivepolarizer of the beam splitter 9352. It is important to note that theimage light 9360 is polarized to enable a folded illumination system andnot because polarized light is required by the combiner 9320. In fact,to provide a transmission of light from the environment 9362 that isgreater than 50%, the combiner 9320 cannot include a polarizer.

FIG. 94 is an illustration of an optics module than includes multiplyfolded optics to reduce the overall height of the optics module. In thiscase, illumination light 9464 is transmitted by the beam splitter 9452so that it passes directly toward the image source 9450 wherein the beamsplitter 9452 is a reflective polarizer and the light source 9340includes a polarizer 9342 that is oriented so the transmission axis ofthe polarizer 9342 is parallel to the transmission axis of the beamsplitter 9452. The illumination light 9464 is then reflected and changedin polarization state by the image source 9450 so that the image light9360 with it's changed polarization state is reflected by beam splitter9452 toward the lens 9330. As can be seen by comparing FIG. 93 to FIG.94, the overall height of the optics module shown in FIG. 94 issubstantially reduced.

However, the orientation of the additional fold in the optical path ofthe image light 9360 in the optics module of FIG. 94 increases thethickness of the optics module, where thickness is defined as thedistance from the closest back surface of the optics module that isnearest to the user's eye to the farthest front surface of the opticsmodule that is farthest from the user's eye. FIGS. 95 and 96 showillustrations of an optical module where the added fold in the opticalpath of the image light 9360 is oriented perpendicular to the fold shownin FIG. 94. In this case, the optics module in FIGS. 95 and 96 is widerbut thinner than that shown in FIG. 94. FIG. 95 shows the optics modulefrom the side and FIG. 96 shows the optics module from the position ofthe user's eye 9310. As such, in the multiply folded optics shown inFIGS. 95 and 96, optical axis 935 associated with the illumination light9464 is perpendicular to both the optical axis 934 associated with theimage light 9360 as it passes through the lens 9330 and the optical axis933 associated with the image light 9360 as it proceeds toward theuser's eye 9310 in the eyebox. In the case of a head mounted display, itcan be very important to have a thin optics module because a thickoptics module can cause the head mounted display to stick outward fromthe user's forehead, which can be uncomfortable and unattractive. Thus,the multiply folded optics module shown in FIGS. 95 and 96 are shorterand thinner than the optic module shown in FIG. 93. The optics moduleshown in FIGS. 95 and 96 is wider than the optics module shown in FIG.93, but in a glasses configuration of the head mounted display, wideroptics modules can be better fit into the glasses frames than taller orthicker optics modules.

A further advantage that is provided by an optics module that includesmultiply folded optics is that twists can be introduced at the foldsurfaces to modify the orientation of different portions of the opticsmodule relative to each other. This can be important when the opticsmodule needs to fit into a thin curved glasses frame, a visor or ahelmet where the increased width associated with the upper portion ofthe multiply folded optics module can make it more difficult to fit intostructures that are not parallel to the combiner. In this case, theupper portion including for example (based on FIG. 96), the light source9340, the polarizer 9342, the beam splitter 9452 and the image source9450, can be twisted relative to the lower portion including the lens9330 and the combiner 9320. Where to avoid distortion of the image dueto the compound angles between the fold surfaces, a twist of the upperportion about the axis 934 must be combined with a corresponding twistof the lower portion about the axis 933. In this way, the effects of theincreased width of the upper portion of the multiply folded optics canbe reduced when fitting the optics module into a curved structure suchas glasses frames, a visor frame or a helmet structure.

FIG. 99 shows a further embodiment wherein the lens 9930 includes adiffractive surface 9931 to enable a more compact and shorter opticaldesign with reduced chromatic aberration. Where the diffractive surface9931 can be comprised of a series of small annular sections of arefractive lens curve such as for example in a Fresnel lens. Thediffractive surface 9931 can be flat as shown in FIG. 99 or it can havea base curve to provide additional optical power. The diffractivesurface 9931 can be a single order diffractive or a multiple orderdiffractive. To reduce scattering of wide angle illumination light 9964that could be incident on the diffractive surface 9931, an absorptivepolarizer 9932 is provided and is oriented with it's transmission axisperpendicular to the transmission axis of the reflective polarizer ofthe beam splitter 9452. In this way, illumination light 9964 that istransmitted by the beam splitter 9452 in the direction that would causeit to be incident on the diffractive surface 9931 is absorbed by theabsorptive polarizer 9932 before it can be scattered by the diffractivesurface 9931. At the same time, image light 9360 has a polarizationstate that is opposite to that of the illumination light 9964 so that itis reflected by the beam splitter 9452 and transmitted by the absorptivepolarizer 9932 as it passes into the lens 9930.

FIG. 100 shows an illustration of an optics module that includes areduced angle between the beam splitter 9452 and the lens 9930 to reducethe overall height of the optics module. The fold angle of the imagelight 9360 (the deflection angle between 934 and 1005) is then more than90 degrees and as a result, the upper edge of the beam splitter iscloser to the lens 9330 thereby providing a reduced overall height ofthe optics module.

FIG. 100 also shows a compact planar light source 10040 comprised of athin edge-lit backlight similar to what is provided in displays used indisplays for mobile devices like cellphones. The compact planar lightsource 10040 is positioned directly behind the beam splitter 9452 toreduce the overall size of the optics module. The compact planar lightsource can include a light guide film or light guide plate with an edgelit light such as one or more LEDs and a reflector on the side oppositethe beam splitter 9452. The compact planar light source can include apolarizer so the illumination light 10064 is polarized as previouslydescribed herein. To direct the illumination light 10064 toward theimage source 9450 for improved efficiency, a turning film 10043 ispositioned between the compact planar light source 10040 and the beamsplitter 9452. A 20 degree prismatic turning film can be obtained forexample, from Luminit 103C (Torrance, Calif.) under the name DTF. Toobtain greater degrees of turning, such as 40 degrees, multiple layersof turning film 10043 can be stacked together provided they are orientedsuch that the turning effect is additive. A diffuser layer (not shown)can be used in addition to the turning film 10043 to reduce artifactssuch as linear shadows that can be associated with prismatic structuresthat are typically associated with turning films 10043. FIG. 101 showsan illustration of an optics module as seen from the position of theuser's eye, which is similar to that shown in FIG. 100 but with aperpendicular orientation of the added fold in the image light 10164 toreduce the thickness of the optics module as previously describedherein. As in the optics module shown in FIGS. 95 and 96, the multiplyfolded optics shown in FIG. 101 have an optical axis 1005 associatedwith the illumination light 10164 that is perpendicular to both theoptical axis 934 associated with the image light 9360 as it passesthrough the lens 9330 and the optical axis 933 associated with the imagelight 9360 as it proceeds toward the user's eye 9310 in the eyebox. As aresult, the optics module of FIG. 101 is thinner and shorter than theoptics module of FIG. 93. FIG. 101 also includes a field lens 10130 toimprove the optical performance of the optics module. The addition ofthis second lens element is possible because of the change in foldorientation so that the field lens 10130 does not increase the thicknessof the optics module, instead the added length of the optical path fromthe field lens 10130 occurs in the width of the optics module wherespace is more readily available in the head mounted display.

FIG. 102 shows an illustration of an optics module similar to that shownin FIG. 99 but with a different orientation of the upper portion of theoptics module relative to the combiner so that the combiner 10220 can bemore vertical. This rearrangement of the elements within the opticsmodule can be important to achieve a good fit of the head mounteddisplay onto the user's face. By making the combiner 10220 morevertical, the optics module can be made to have less interference withthe user's cheekbones.

FIGS. 103, 103 a and 103 b show illustrations of optics modules as seenfrom the position of the user's eye, that include multiply folded opticsand digital light projector (DLP) image sources 10350. In this case, theillumination light 10364 is provided at an oblique angle to the imagesource 10350 as required by the micromirrors in the DLP, to reflectimage light 9360 along the optical axis 934 of the lens 9930. Where, inthe case of a DLP image source 10350, image light 9360 is comprised ofon-state light reflected by on-state micromirrors in the DLP imagesource 10350 along optical axis 934, in correspondence to the brightnessof pixels in the image to be displayed to the user's eye 9310 in theeyebox. The micromirrors in the DLP image source 10350 also reflectoff-state light 10371 to the side of the optics module in correspondenceto the dark image content and as a result, a light trap 10372 isprovided in the optics module to absorb light 10371. The light trap10372 can be a black absorptive surface or a textured black surface. Thepurpose of the light trap 10372 is to absorb incident light 10371 andthereby reduce stray light and subsequently improve the contrast of theimage displayed to the user's eye 9310. As previously described in otherembodiments herein, the light source 10340 is provided to the side ofthe optics module with a multiply folded optical path to reduce theoverall thickness and height of the optics module. FIG. 103 provides theDLP image source 10350 at the top of the optics module so that the imagelight 9360 proceeds straight along the optical axis 934, through thelens 9930 and down to the combiner 9320 where the image light isreflected toward the user's eye 9310 located in the eyebox. A polarizer10341 is provided with the light source 10340 so that polarizedillumination light 10364 is reflected by the beam splitter 9452 toilluminate the DLP image source 10350. Where, the beam splitter 9452 inthis case, is a reflective polarizer that is aligned with the polarizer10341 so that the polarized illumination light 10364 is reflected by thebeam splitter 9452 and image light 9360 is transmitted by the beamsplitter 9452. A quarter wave film 10351 is located adjacent to thesurface of the DLP image source 10350 so that the polarization state ofthe image light 9360 is opposite to that of the illumination light 10364after being reflected by the DLP image source 10350. The light source10340 and the reflective polarizer 9452 are angularly arranged so thatthe illumination light 10364 is incident onto the DLP image source 10350at the oblique angle required so that the image light 9360 whenreflected by the on-state pixels in the DLP image source 10350 proceedsalong the optical axis 934 of the lens 9930. A field lens (similar to10130 as shown in FIG. 101) or other lens elements may be included inthe optics of FIG. 103 but is not shown, in which case, the illuminationlight 10364 and the image light 9360 may pass thru the field lens orother lens elements in opposite directions.

FIG. 103 a is an illustration of another optics module with a multiplyfolded optical path that includes a DLP image source 10350 and is shownfrom the position of the user's eye. The light source 10340 is againprovided to the side of the optics module to reduce the thickness of theoptics module. In this case, the light source 10340 is provided on thesame side of the lens 9930 and combiner 9320, as the DLP image source10350. Lens 9930 can optionally include one or more diffractive surfaces9931. The light source 10340 directly illuminates the DLP image source10350 where the illumination light 10364 is incident on the DLP imagesource 10350 at an oblique angle so that the image light 9360, afterbeing reflected by the on-state micromirrors in the DLP image source10350, proceeds along the folded optical axis 934. At least one lighttrap 10372 is also provided to absorb light 10371 that is reflected fromoff-state micromirrors in the DLP and thereby improve the contrast ofthe displayed image as seen by the user. A field lens 10332 is providedbetween the DLP image source 10350 and the fold mirror 10352. Theillumination light L64 in this case can be unpolarized light whereuponthe fold mirror 10352 can be comprised of a full mirror coating (e.g. acoating that reflects the entire visible light spectrum) on a substrate.The field lens 10332 can be a single lens element as shown in FIG. 103 aor it can include multiple lens elements as needed. The field lens 10332is designed to provide a large air gap between the field lens 10352 andthe DLP image source 10350, so that the illumination light 10364 can beintroduced to the optics module to directly illuminate the active areaassociated with the DLP image source 10350. By using unpolarizedillumination light 10364, the optics module shown in FIG. 103 a hasimproved efficiency over the optics module with DLP image sources 10350shown in FIGS. 103 and 103 b.

FIG. 103 b is an illustration of another optics module with multiplyfolded optical path that includes a DLP image source 10350 and is shownfrom the position of the user's eye 9310 in the eyebox. As in the opticsmodules shown in FIGS. 103 and 103 a, the optics module of FIG. 103 bhas the light source 10340 positioned at the side of the optics moduleto reduce the height and thickness of the optics module. The DLP imagesource 10350 is positioned opposite the light source 10340 however inthis embodiment they do not share an optical axis. The illuminationlight 10364 passes through the beam splitter 10352, which in this casecan be a first reflective polarizer. A second reflective polarizer 10332is positioned adjacent to the lens 9930 so that the illumination light10364 is reflected toward the DLP image source 10350. To reflect theillumination light 10364, the first reflective polarizer (beam splitter10352) and the second reflective polarizer 10332 are oriented withperpendicular transmission axes. A quarter wave film 10351 (or quarterwave coating on the DLP cover glass) is provided adjacent to the DLPimage source 10350 so that the polarization state of the illuminationlight 10364 is changed upon reflection from the DLP image source 10350as it becomes image light 9360. As a result, the polarization of theillumination light 10364 is opposite to that of the image light 9360.Consequently, the illumination light 10364 is transmitted by the beamsplitter 10352 and reflected by the second reflective polarizer 10332,while the image light 9360 is reflected by the beam splitter 10352 andtransmitted by the second reflective polarizer 10332. The light source10340 is oriented relative to the second reflective polarizer 10332 sothat it is reflected at an oblique angle relative to the DLP imagesource 10350 as required to provide image light 9360 reflected fromon-state micromirrors in the DLP image source 10350 along the foldedoptical axis 934. The second reflective polarizer 10332 can be extendedbeyond the lens 9930 to provide the required oblique angle to fullyilluminate the DLP image source 10350 as shown in FIG. 103 b. Becausethe light source 10340 is located behind the beam splitter 10352, whichis a reflective polarizer, the light source 10340 does not affect theimage light 9360 and as a result, the light source 10340 can be adifferent size and orientation than the beam splitter 10352. One or morelight traps 10372 are provided to absorb light 10371 that is reflectedfrom off-state micromirrors in the DLP image source 10350 and therebyimprove the contrast of the displayed image. In this case, the lighttrap 10372 can be positioned under the second reflective polarizer 10332because the polarization state of the light 10371 is such that it isreflected by the beam splitter 10352 and transmitted by the secondreflective polarizer 10332. The combined orientation of the light source10340, the beam splitter 10352 and the DLP image source 10350 providesan optics module that is relatively thin and relatively short comparedto optics modules where the image source or the light source arepositioned above the fold mirror or beam splitter (e.g. such as theoptics module shown in FIG. 103).

FIGS. 97 and 98 show illustrations of optics modules similar to thoseshown in FIG. 94 but with the addition of an eye imaging camera 979 forcapturing images of the user's eye 9310 during use. In these cases, thelight source 9340 and image source 9450 are positioned opposite oneanother so that the eye imaging camera 979 can be positioned directlyabove the lens 9340 so that the optical axis 934 is shared between theoptics module and the eye imaging camera 979. By sharing a commonoptical axis, the eye imaging camera 979 can capture an image of theuser's eye 9310 that has a perspective from directly in front of theuser's eye 9310. Image light 9360 can then be used to illuminate theuser's eye 9310 during image capture. A portion of the light reflectedfrom the user's eye 9310, which can be unpolarized, passes through thebeam splitter 9452 before being captured by the eye imaging camera 979.Because the eye imaging camera 979 is located above the beam splitter9452, if the beam splitter 9452 is a reflective polarizer, thepolarization state of the image light 9360 will be opposite to that ofthe light 978 captured by the eye imaging camera 979. The eye imagingcamera 979 can be used to capture still images or video. Where videoimages can be used to track movements of the user's eye when looking atdisplayed images or when looking at a see-through view of theenvironment. Still images can be used to capture images of the user'seye 9310 for the purpose of identifying the user based on patterns onthe iris. Given the small size of available camera modules, an eyeimaging camera 979 can be added to the optics module with little impacton the overall size of the optics module. Additional lighting can beprovided adjacent to the combiner 9320 to illuminate the user's eye. Theadditional lighting can be infrared, so the user can simultaneously viewimages displayed with visible light. If the additional lighting isinfrared, the eye camera 979 must be capable of capturing images atmatching infrared wavelengths. By capturing images of the user's eyefrom the perspective of directly in front of the user's eye, undistortedimages of the user's eye can be obtained over a wide range of eyemovement.

In an alternative embodiment for the optics module shown in FIG. 103 a,the light source 10340 provides polarized illumination light 10364 andthe fold mirror 10352 is a reflective polarizer plate so that an eyecamera (not shown) can be positioned above the fold mirror 10352 andalong the optical axis 934 for capturing images of the user's eye 9310similar to that shown in FIGS. 97 and 98. The eye camera and the opticsmodule then share a common optical axis 934 so that images of the user'seye 9310 are captured from directly in front of the eye. In thisarrangement, the polarization state of the image light 9360 is oppositeto that of the light captured by the eye camera because the image light9360 is reflected by the fold mirror 10352 and the light captured by theeye camera is transmitted by the fold mirror 10352.

FIG. 104 shows an illustration of the optics module of FIG. 95 with theadditional element of a controllable light blocking element to improvecontrast in portions of the displayed image and also to improve theappearance of opacity in displayed objects such as augmented realityobjects. Where the controllable light blocking element can operate byabsorbing the incident light or scattering the incident light asprovided, for example, by an electrochromic element, a polymerstabilized liquid crystal or a ferroelectric liquid crystal. Examples ofsuitable light blocking elements includes: 3G Switchable Film fromScienstry (Richardson, Tex.); Switchable Mirror or Switchable Glass fromKent Optronics (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.). The controllable lightblocking element 10420 is shown in FIG. 104 as being attached to thelower surface of the combiner 9320 so that it doesn't interfere with thedisplayed image while blocking see-thru light from the environment 9362.Provided the combiner 9320 is flat, the addition of controllable lightblocking elements 10420 adjacent to the combiner 9320 is easily doneeither by attaching directly to the combiner or attaching to thesidewalls of the optics module housing. The controllable light blockingelement 10420 can have a single area that can be used to block aselectable portion of the see-through light from the environment overthe entire combiner 9320 area thereby enabling a selectable opticaldensity. Alternatively the controllable light blocking element 10420 canprovide an array of areas 10520, as shown in FIG. 105, that can beseparately selectably controlled to block portions of the combiner 9320area that correspond to areas in the displayed image where high contrastareas of the image are located. FIG. 105 shows an illustration of anarray of separately controllable light blocking elements 10520. FIGS.106 a, 106 b and 106 c are illustrations of how the array of separatelycontrollable light blocking elements 10520 can be used. FIG. 106 a showshow the array of separately controllable light blocking elements 10520can be put into blocking modes in areas 10622 and non-blocking modes inareas 10623. Where the blocking mode areas 10622 correspond to areaswhere information or objects are to be displayed such as is shown in thecorresponding areas in the illustration of FIG. 106 b. FIG. 106 c showswhat the user sees when the image of FIG. 106 b is displayed with thearray of controllable light blocking elements 10520 used in lightblocking modes 10622 and non-blocking modes 10623. The user then seesthe displayed information or objects overlaid onto a see-through view ofthe environment, but in the areas where information of objects aredisplayed, the see-through view is blocked to improve the contrast ofthe displayed information or object and provide a sense of solidness tothe displayed information or objects.

In addition, FIG. 104 shows a rear optical element 10490 that can be aprotective plate or a corrective optic. The protective plate can beconnected to sidewalls and other structural elements to stiffen thepositioning of the combiner 9320 and to prevent dust and dirt fromgetting onto the inner surface of the combiner 9320. The correctiveoptics can include a prescriptive optic, which includes the ophthalmicprescription (optical power and astigmatism for example) of the user toimprove the viewing experience.

Although embodiments of HWC have been described in language specific tofeatures, systems, computer processes and/or methods, the appendedclaims are not necessarily limited to the specific features, systems,computer processes and/or methods described. Rather, the specificfeatures, systems, computer processes and/or and methods are disclosedas non-limited example implementations of HWC. All documents referencedherein are hereby incorporated by reference.

We claim:
 1. A see-through head mounted display with controllable lightblocking comprising: a. an optics module that provides image light incorrespondence to a displayed image; b. a flat combiner to reflect theimage light while simultaneously transmitting more than 50% of incidentlight from the environment, along an optical axis that proceeds to theuser's eye to provide a view of the displayed image overlaid onto asee-through view of the environment; and c. a controllable light blockerpositioned adjacent to the flat combiner that controllably blocks lightfrom the environment so it is not incident on the combiner.
 2. Thesee-through head mounted display of claim 1, wherein the image light ispolarized and the light from the environment is unpolarized.
 3. Thesee-through head mounted display of claim 1, wherein the optics moduleincludes a reflective liquid crystal image source.
 4. The see-throughhead mounted display of claim 1, wherein the optics module includes aDLP image source.
 5. The see-through head mounted display of claim 1,wherein the image light proceeds along a multiply folded optical axis inthe optics module to provide an optics module with reduced thickness andheight.
 6. The see-through head mounted display of claim 5, wherein atleast one of the folds of the optical axis occurs in a plane that isperpendicular to the optical axis that proceeds to the user's eye. 7.The optics module of claim 1, wherein the flat combiner is a partialmirror.
 8. The optics module of claim 1, wherein the flat combiner is anotch mirror.
 9. The optics module of claim 1, further comprising a rearoptical element comprising a protective plate or a prescriptive optic.